O Estado de S. Paulo (; ), also known as Estadão (; ), is a daily newspaper published in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to Berliner on October 17, 2021.

It has the second-largest circulation in the city of São Paulo, behind only Folha de S. Paulo. The journal was founded on 4 January 1875, and was first called A Província de São Paulo (). O Estado de S. Paulo is described by observers as having a right-wing, conservative editorial stance.

History

left|thumb|285x285px|Bernard Gregoire

thumb|250px|Bernard Gregoire riding a horse and playing a cornet is the symbol of the newspaper|right

The term Província ("Province") was preserved until January 1890, one month after the fall of the monarchy and the subsequent republican regime in Brazil. the Estado supported the Allied cause in World War I, suffering reprisals from the German community in the city, which removed all advertising announcements from the newspaper. Despite this, the Mesquitas maintained their editorial position. During the war, the afternoon edition of the newspaper began to circulate throughout the country. It was known as Estadinho (lit. "Little Estado"), directed by the then young Júlio de Mesquita Filho.

In 1924, the newspaper Estado was banned from circulation for the first time, after the defeat of the tenentist revolt that shook the city. Júlio Mesquita, who tried to mediate a dialogue between the rebels and the government, was imprisoned and taken to Rio de Janeiro, before being freed shortly thereafter.

With the death of the old director of 1927, his son Júlio de Mesquita Filho assumed the directory along with his brother Franscisco, the latter managing the financial aspects of the newspaper. In 1930, the Estado, connected to the Democratic Party, supported the candidature of Getúlio Vargas for the Liberal Alliance.

Years later, with the appearance of the "Estado Novo", the newspaper maintained its opposition to the regime, and in March 1940 it was invaded by DOPS (part of the government that controlled and restrained opponents and movements that were antithetical to the Estado Novo regime) and the paper was altered by them to state that, with absurdity and mockery, "guns were arrested" in the redaction. The newspaper was initially closed and afterwards was confiscated by the dictatorship, being administrated by DIP (Department of the Press [Port."Imprense"] and Propaganda) until 1945, when the Estado was returned by the Supreme Federal Court to its legitimate owners. The numbers published during this governmental intervention are not considered part of the actual history of the paper.

Shortly after World War II the Estado enjoyed great advances, with the increase in editing and of its good reputation. In the 1950s, the Major Quedinho Street headquarters were built, adjacent to the Hotel Jaraguá. That was the phase when the section Internacional ("International") of the newspaper, directed by the journalist Giannino Carta and by Ruy Mesquita, became known as the most complete of any national newspaper. From that time until the 1970s, O Estado showed almost exclusively international news on its first page.

República Nova

During the República Nova ("New Republic") (1946–1964) the Estado profiled itself to the National Democratic Union of Carlos Lacerda and opposed all the other governments, especially João Goulart. In 1954, O Estado de S. Paulo led a national campaign against the elected democratic President, Getúlio Vargas, leading him to commit suicide. In 1962, the director Júlio de Mesquita Filho even wrote a Roteiro da Revolução ("Guide to Revolution"), in an attempt to unify civilian opposition against the army, the then called "boasting party", which had intervened in Brazilian politics since the beginning of the Republic. In 1964, the Estado supported the military coup where he denounced the end of any normal and simple democratic appearance. From then on, the newspaper began disputing censored editions of its news by the Brazilian Federal Police, unlike other national newspapers that did not dispute censorship by the government.

With the death of Mesquita Filho, the Estado was directed by Julio de Mesquita Neto. Then, the newspaper gained worldwide visibility when it denounced the preemptive censorship of articles and replaced them with verses of the Portuguese classic The Lusiads, by Luís de Camões.

In 2013, another big reorganization followed. Employees were laid off and the paper reduced the number of pages.

Political stance

The oldest of all the sections, known as Notas e Informações ("Notes and Information"), appears on page 3 and presents a republican institutionalist view, emphasizing liberty of expression, economic liberalism and Rechtsstaat – one of flagship columns of O Estado de S. Paulo. It was, initially, a supporter of the 1964 military coup d'état in Brazil and of the military dictatorship that then ensued. To this day, the newspaper is perceived to hold "right-wing" or "conservative" positions along the Brazilian political spectrum.

Recent circulation history

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References

Further reading

  • Chronology and Historic summary of the Journal
  • O Estado de S. Paulo online edition
  • O Acervo Estadão (digital archive 1875-present)
  • Agência Estado
  • Code of conduct and ethics