The Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), or simply the Inquirer, is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded broadsheet in the Philippines and the multimedia group, called The Inquirer Group, reaches 54 million people across several platforms.

History

The Philippine Daily Inquirer was founded on December 9, 1985, by publisher Eugenia Apóstol, columnist Max Solivén, together with Betty Go-Belmonte during the last days of, and becoming one of the first private newspapers to be established under the Marcos regime.

The Inquirer succeeded the weekly Philippine Inquirer, As Belmonte owned the Star Building where the Inquirer was headquartered, the newspaper amicably transferred to the Soliven-owned BF Condominium on Aduana Street, Intramuros. was appointed on June 14, 1991. She was a former columnist and editor of the Panorama Sunday magazine of Bulletin Today (now Manila Bulletin) who was sacked for writing articles poking fun at Marcos. She edited Mr & Ms Special Edition until the fall of the Marcos regime. She was also the first editor-in-chief of Sunday Inquirer Magazine.

Under her term, on January 12, 1995, the Inquirer moved to its current headquarters in Makati after transferring headquarters four times.

President Joseph Estrada accused the Inquirer of "bias, malice, and fabrication" against him, charges that the newspaper denied. In 1999, several government organizations, pro-Estrada businesses, and movie producers simultaneously pulled their advertisements from the Inquirer in a boycott that lasted for five months. Malacañang Palace was widely implicated in the advertising boycott, which publisher Isagani Yambot denounced as an attack on the freedom of the press. Magsanoc died on December 24, 2015, at St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig. A month after her death, Jimenez-Magsanoc was recognized as the Filipino of the Year 2015 by the Inquirer.

Nolasco years (2016–2018)

thumb|Philippine Daily Inquirer headquarters in [[Makati]]

On February 2, 2016, the Inquirer appointed its managing editor Jose Ma. Nolasco as the executive editor, the new top position of the newspaper, replacing the traditional editor-in-chief position used by the Inquirer for more than three decades.

In 2017, Ramon S. Ang bought out the shares of the divesting Prieto family and became the majority shareholder at 85%, followed by Manny Pangilinan having the remaining 15%.<!-- A sentence from a Rappler report claims that the sa le did not push through:

"Today, the Inquirer is on the brink of a massive reorganization with the looming takeover of Ang. (Editor’s note: In the first quarter of 2018, however, Inquirer insiders began telling Rappler that the negotiations between Ang and the Prietos were proving to be difficult. Eventually, the sale did not push through.)"

https://web.archive.org/web/20241127002617/https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/178715-duterte-target-philippine-daily-inquirer/

Discuss on whether we should include this. -->

The Inquirer runs a subsidiary publication titled Pop!, focusing on popular and Internet culture. On October 1, 2024, it dissolved the Entertainment section and merged it with the Lifestyle section.

On July 1, 2025, the Inquirer integrated its print and digital operations, with the Philippine Daily Inquirer continuing its print edition under Inquirer Interactive, Inc. as publisher from Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., the owner of the broadsheet itself, which will be shutting down operations entirely as a company.

Readership

thumb|right|Inquirer.net broadcasting vehicle

According to the company's website the newspaper has over 2.7 million nationwide readers daily, it enjoys a market share of over 50% and tops the readership surveys.

Reputation

The Philippine Daily Inquirer was considered as one of the trusted news sources among Filipinos in 2022, with a trust rating of 65% according to the Reuters Institute. In the 2023 Digital News Report by Reuters Institute, the trust rating rose to 68%, making it one of the most trusted broadsheets in the country. The same study also cites the Inquirer, with a weekly reach for print of 28% with 13% reaching users at least three days a week; which makes it the most read broadsheet in the country. In terms of online reach, 36% of people in the survey read the online edition with 20% reading the paper at least three days a week, ranking third, next to GMA and ABS-CBN.

At least two opinion pieces cite the Inquirer as the Philippines' newspaper of record but as an opportunity for criticism. The Manila Times criticized it for "publish[ing] ... vapid, unthinking positions", which it called "reprehensible, at best". In 2014, Leloy Claudio in an opinion piece for GMA News noted it as a "de facto paper of record", and added: "This distinguished history only makes it more painful to say that the paper is starting to suck."

See also

  • Inquirer Bandera
  • Inquirer Compact
  • Inquirer Libre
  • Isagani Yambot – Publisher of the Philippine Daily Inquirer from 1994 to 2012
  • Letty Jimenez Magsanoc – longest-serving and first woman editor-in-chief
  • Rina Jimenez-David
  • Conrado de Quiros
  • Rene Alviar
  • Cesar Mangawang
  • Lina Sagaral Reyes

References

  • Media Ownership Monitor Philippines – Media Companies: A Duopoly Rules by VERA Files and Reporters Without Borders
  • Media Ownership Monitor Philippines – Print by VERA Files and Reporters Without Borders