Editorial Atlántida
Encyclopedia
Editorial Atlántida is a prominent Argentine publishing house and the country's leading magazine publisher and distributor.
, between 1904 and 1911: the children's weekly Pulgarcito (akin to "Tom Thumb
"), Germinal, and his most successful early periodical, the general interest weekly, Mundo Argentino ("Argentine World"). Much as Pulgarcito had been before competition led to its 1907 closure, Mundo Argentino was a heavily-illustrated magazine packed with advertisements and coupons and centered on a particular genre without being limited to it. The magazine, by 1912, boasted a weekly circulation of over 36,000, though the versatile businessman sold it at its peak to Editorial Haynes in 1917; by then, Mundo Argentino sold 118,000 copies a week (in a country with fewer than 5 million adults).
Vigil parlayed the sale into the establishment of a new publishing house: Editorial Atlántida. The company would publish his new titles: a current events magazine, Atlántida
(1918), the sports weekly El Gráfico
, the children's magazine Billiken
(both in 1919), and the first women's magazine published in Argentina, Para Tí ("For You," 1922); the latter three remain the oldest Argentine magazines still in publication, and became circulation leaders in the Spanish-speaking world. Other well-known magazines distributed by Atlántida included Iris (1920), Grand Guiñol (1922), Tipperary (1928), El Golfer Argentino (1931), Cinegraf, and Vida Nuestra (both from 1932).
Atlántida published Vigil's numerous, best-selling books, as well. He authored a total of 134 books from 1915, including 50 children's titles. Among the group's variety of magazines, Billiken
remained the most popular over the decades. The magazine's reach allowed Vigil to organize "Billiken Committees" for the purpose of raising donations of food and money for the needy during the great depression
, organizing over 40,000 children before the project ended; by the 1950s, the magazine's circulation totalled over 500,000 - including some 30,000 sold Uruguay
and in the rest of Latin America.
Remaining part of the Vigil Group after its founder's death in 1954, Atlántida became the local leader in women's magazines with the 1965 launch of Gente. The group lost ground in the children's magazine market with the 1964 advent of Manuel García Ferré
's Anteojito, however, and by 1972 Billiken had slipped to third place, behind Anteojito and Dante Quinterno
's Locuras de Isidoro. The company, in turn, became the first to secure rights to distribute the lucrative Superman comic book series locally, in 1971. That year, the Argentine government sold a stake in the public Channel 13
, appointing Constancio Vigil III its Executive Director; populist President Juan Perón
renationalized the station in 1974, however.
in 1976, Atlántida's publications became the regime's explicit supporters. In evidence well before the 1976 coup, the publishing house's bias towards military rule intensified and became most apparent in its best-selling women's magazines, Gente and Para Tí, and the current-affairs weekly, Somos. Para Tí set the trend by publishing a lengthy feature on General Jorge Videla's home life early in his tenure, extolling the new dictator as a man of "discipline, valor and sacrifice."
The magazine's band-wagon tone was put into service for the dictatorship in its many crises. A severe recession and looming conflict with neighboring Chile
, in 1978, was countered by exhortations to "support the process that began on March 24, 1976, when we took a decisive step towards political maturity." The Argentine national football team's victory in the 1978 FIFA World Cup
was followed by a Somos cover portraying not the team - but the dictator, as he rose in the bleachers to cheer the occasion. Growing international pressure against the regime's Dirty War
resulted in a petition campaign organized by Para Tí, in which postcards labeled "Argentina: The Whole Truth" could be torn out by readers and mailed to a list of addresses of the regime's most prominent international critics, including, among others, U.S. President Jimmy Carter
, Senator Ted Kennedy
and French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
, as well as Amnesty International
and numerous international newspapers of record.
Atlántida sponsored the regime's political offensive in primary schools, El niño, la escuela y el ejército ("Children, Schools, and the Army"), and even after the return to democracy in 1983, Somos ran a series on (non-existent) "rehabilitation camps for subversives," which included doctored photographs of detainees in a "familial atmosphere," complete with medical, religious, psychological and legal services.
's 1989 decision to privatize Argentina's array of state-owned media outlets. Atlántida purchased top-rated Radio Continental and Channel 11; it formed a partnership in 1998 with Citicorp and Telefónica de España, through which it controlled Telefé
, a leading local cable television
station, and eight other television stations. Its best-selling sports magazine, El Gráfico
, was sold to local broadcaster Torneos y Competencias
in 1998.
The Vigil Group's withdrawal from the consortium in 2000, however, led to a refocus in favor of their standby: publishing. Atlántida launched a tabloid, Paparazzi, in 2001, and in 2005, new versions of the well-known Para Tí: Para Tí Mamá and Para Teens; in all, its magazine unit sold 12.8 million copies in 2006, or a 30% market share in Argentina, and its book publishing unit remained significant, as well: printing 650,000 books annually (a 10% local market share).
Atlántida's magazine publishing unit was sold to Mexican telecommunications giant Televisa
, in 2007.
Development
Editorial Atlántida's origins began with three magazines founded by an Uruguayan-Argentine journalist, Constancio C. VigilConstancio C. Vigil
Constancio Cecilio Vigil was a Uruguayan-Argentine writer and prominent publisher.-Life and times:Constancio Vigil was born in Rocha, Uruguay, in 1876. His father, a local politician, was forced to relocate to the nation's capital, Montevideo, following a political dispute...
, between 1904 and 1911: the children's weekly Pulgarcito (akin to "Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. The History of Tom Thumb was published in 1621, and has the distinction of being the first fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling with giants, and becoming a...
"), Germinal, and his most successful early periodical, the general interest weekly, Mundo Argentino ("Argentine World"). Much as Pulgarcito had been before competition led to its 1907 closure, Mundo Argentino was a heavily-illustrated magazine packed with advertisements and coupons and centered on a particular genre without being limited to it. The magazine, by 1912, boasted a weekly circulation of over 36,000, though the versatile businessman sold it at its peak to Editorial Haynes in 1917; by then, Mundo Argentino sold 118,000 copies a week (in a country with fewer than 5 million adults).
Vigil parlayed the sale into the establishment of a new publishing house: Editorial Atlántida. The company would publish his new titles: a current events magazine, Atlántida
Atlántida (magazine)
Atlántida was a prominent general interest and women's magazine published in Argentina between 1918 and 1970.-History:The magazine was launched by Uruguayan-Argentine publisher Constancio C. Vigil, who established the Atlántida Publishing House in 1918. The company's homonymous weekly would also be...
(1918), the sports weekly El Gráfico
El Gráfico
-History:El Gráfico was founded on May 30, 1919. Born as a general interest weekly magazine, it became a sports-only publication in 1925. In 2002, it became a monthly....
, the children's magazine Billiken
Billiken (magazine)
Billiken is a weekly children's magazine in Argentina, the oldest Spanish language magazine for young people. The magazine was founded in 1919 by Constancio C...
(both in 1919), and the first women's magazine published in Argentina, Para Tí ("For You," 1922); the latter three remain the oldest Argentine magazines still in publication, and became circulation leaders in the Spanish-speaking world. Other well-known magazines distributed by Atlántida included Iris (1920), Grand Guiñol (1922), Tipperary (1928), El Golfer Argentino (1931), Cinegraf, and Vida Nuestra (both from 1932).
Atlántida published Vigil's numerous, best-selling books, as well. He authored a total of 134 books from 1915, including 50 children's titles. Among the group's variety of magazines, Billiken
Billiken
The Billiken was a charm doll created by an American art teacher and illustrator, Florence Pretz of St. Louis, Missouri, who is said to have seen the mysterious figure in a dream. In 1908, she patented the Billiken, who was elf-like with pointed ears, a mischievous smile and a tuft of hair on his...
remained the most popular over the decades. The magazine's reach allowed Vigil to organize "Billiken Committees" for the purpose of raising donations of food and money for the needy during the great depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, organizing over 40,000 children before the project ended; by the 1950s, the magazine's circulation totalled over 500,000 - including some 30,000 sold Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
and in the rest of Latin America.
Remaining part of the Vigil Group after its founder's death in 1954, Atlántida became the local leader in women's magazines with the 1965 launch of Gente. The group lost ground in the children's magazine market with the 1964 advent of Manuel García Ferré
Manuel García Ferré
Manuel García Ferré is a Spanish Argentine animation director and cartoonist.-Biography :García Ferré was born in Almería, Spain, in 1929. He arrived in Argentina in 1947, and worked for advertising agencies while studying Architecture. In 1952 his character Pi Pío was accepted and published by...
's Anteojito, however, and by 1972 Billiken had slipped to third place, behind Anteojito and Dante Quinterno
Dante Quinterno
Dante Quinterno was an Argentine comics artist, famous for being the creator of the Patoruzú, Isidoro Cañones and Patoruzito characters....
's Locuras de Isidoro. The company, in turn, became the first to secure rights to distribute the lucrative Superman comic book series locally, in 1971. That year, the Argentine government sold a stake in the public Channel 13
Canal 7 Argentina
Canal Siete, TV Pública or TV Pública Digital is an Argentine television network founded on October 17, 1951. Between 1979 and 1999, the network was known as Argentina Televisora Color . During the 1978 World Cup, it was known as A78TV.Owned, financed and operated by the Argentine State, Canal 7 is...
, appointing Constancio Vigil III its Executive Director; populist President Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
renationalized the station in 1974, however.
Atlántida and the last dictatorship
Following the installation of Argentina's last dictatorshipNational Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
in 1976, Atlántida's publications became the regime's explicit supporters. In evidence well before the 1976 coup, the publishing house's bias towards military rule intensified and became most apparent in its best-selling women's magazines, Gente and Para Tí, and the current-affairs weekly, Somos. Para Tí set the trend by publishing a lengthy feature on General Jorge Videla's home life early in his tenure, extolling the new dictator as a man of "discipline, valor and sacrifice."
The magazine's band-wagon tone was put into service for the dictatorship in its many crises. A severe recession and looming conflict with neighboring Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, in 1978, was countered by exhortations to "support the process that began on March 24, 1976, when we took a decisive step towards political maturity." The Argentine national football team's victory in the 1978 FIFA World Cup
1978 FIFA World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 June and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth...
was followed by a Somos cover portraying not the team - but the dictator, as he rose in the bleachers to cheer the occasion. Growing international pressure against the regime's Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
resulted in a petition campaign organized by Para Tí, in which postcards labeled "Argentina: The Whole Truth" could be torn out by readers and mailed to a list of addresses of the regime's most prominent international critics, including, among others, U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Senator Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
and French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
, as well as Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and numerous international newspapers of record.
Atlántida sponsored the regime's political offensive in primary schools, El niño, la escuela y el ejército ("Children, Schools, and the Army"), and even after the return to democracy in 1983, Somos ran a series on (non-existent) "rehabilitation camps for subversives," which included doctored photographs of detainees in a "familial atmosphere," complete with medical, religious, psychological and legal services.
Recent history
The group benefited from President Carlos MenemCarlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
's 1989 decision to privatize Argentina's array of state-owned media outlets. Atlántida purchased top-rated Radio Continental and Channel 11; it formed a partnership in 1998 with Citicorp and Telefónica de España, through which it controlled Telefé
Telefe
Televisión Federal S.A., best known as Telefe and later as TLF, is an Argentine television network. Formerly known as Canal Once , a state-run network, it was privatised and established as Telefe in 1989, when and News Corporation took over the channel...
, a leading local cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
station, and eight other television stations. Its best-selling sports magazine, El Gráfico
El Gráfico
-History:El Gráfico was founded on May 30, 1919. Born as a general interest weekly magazine, it became a sports-only publication in 1925. In 2002, it became a monthly....
, was sold to local broadcaster Torneos y Competencias
Torneos y Competencias
Torneos y Competencias is an Argentine sports communications firm created by businessman Carlos Ávila, who has left the company...
in 1998.
The Vigil Group's withdrawal from the consortium in 2000, however, led to a refocus in favor of their standby: publishing. Atlántida launched a tabloid, Paparazzi, in 2001, and in 2005, new versions of the well-known Para Tí: Para Tí Mamá and Para Teens; in all, its magazine unit sold 12.8 million copies in 2006, or a 30% market share in Argentina, and its book publishing unit remained significant, as well: printing 650,000 books annually (a 10% local market share).
Atlántida's magazine publishing unit was sold to Mexican telecommunications giant Televisa
Televisa
Televisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
, in 2007.