la Repubblica is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 daily general-interest newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari is an Italian journalist, editor of the news magazine L'espresso , former member of parliament in the Italian Chamber of Deputies , co-founder of the newspaper La Repubblica and its editor from 1976 to 1996.-Biography:A law graduate with a interest in journalism and politics,...

, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera

Corriere della Sera

The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...

.

Foundation

la Repubblica was founded by Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari is an Italian journalist, editor of the news magazine L'espresso , former member of parliament in the Italian Chamber of Deputies , co-founder of the newspaper La Repubblica and its editor from 1976 to 1996.-Biography:A law graduate with a interest in journalism and politics,...

, also director of the weekly magazine L'Espresso

L'Espresso

l'Espresso is an Italian newsmagazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies, the other being Panorama. Since the latter has been acquired by right-wing tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi, l'Espresso enjoys the reputation of being the main politically independent newsmagazine...

. The publisher Carlo Caracciolo

Carlo Caracciolo

Don Carlo Caracciolo di Castagneto was the 9th Principe di Castagneto, 4th duca di Melito and an Italian publisher. He created Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, one of Italy's leading publishing groups...

 and Mondadori had invested 2.3 billion liras (half each) and an even balance was calculated at 150,000 copies.
Scalfari invited along a few trusted colleagues: Gianni Rocca, chief central, then Giorgio Bocca

Giorgio Bocca

Giorgio Valentino Bocca is an Italian essayist and journalist, also known for his participation in the World War II partisan movement.- Biography :...

, Sandro Viola, Mario Pirani, Miriam Mafai, Barbara Spinelli, Natalia Aspesi and Giuseppe Turani. The cartoons were the prerogative of Giorgio Forattini, until 1999.

Early life

The newspaper was published for the first time January 14, 1976. It was presented to the public audience as the first Italian Tabloid, with some sections, such as sports and business, intentionally left aside. When it was founded, it was intended to be a "second newspaper", with only major news at the national level, to an audience that has already read the facts of the day on a local newspaper. It was composed of 20 pages and was published from Tuesday to Sunday.

During the first two years it built up a core-audience identified between the centre-left

Centre-left

Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...

 and the Italian Communist Party (PCI

Italian Communist Party

The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...

). In 1977 Scalfari cottoned on the novelty represented by the sprawling student movement, "Repubblica" picked up on it and began its expansion. The strength of the newspaper lay particularly in the comments section, which was always incisive and thought-provoking. In the meantime, to the group of editors was added Giampaolo Pansa, from Corriere della Sera

Corriere della Sera

The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...

, alongside Rocca and Pirani in the role of Deputy Director.

In early 1978, average sales amounted to 114,000 copies. During the 55 days of the Moro

Aldo Moro

Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....

 kidnapping the Repubblica backed the policy of hardline non-negotiation while reporting with much attention on the pro-negotiation approach led by Bettino Craxi

Bettino Craxi

Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...

 of the Italian Socialist Party

Italian Socialist Party

The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

 PSI. The paper's stance proved popular and, by the end of the year, the daily sales reached 140,000 copies. In 1979, with an average print run of 180,000 copies, it achieved a break-even budget. The size of the newspaper increased with total pages going up from 20 to 24. Also, the newspaper decided for the first time to cover sports and veteran reporter Gianni Brera

Gianni Brera

Giovanni Luigi "Gianni" Brera was an Italian sports journalist and novelist.-Biography:Brera was born in San Zenone al Po, near Pavia, the son of Carlo, a tailor, and Marietta Ghisoni...

 was added to the roster.

In 1981 the Corriere della Sera

Corriere della Sera

The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...

 was hit by a scandal when chief editor Franco Di Bella was outed as a member of secret masonic lodge P2

Propaganda Due

Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...

. This allowed Repubblica to win extra readers and to recruit a number of prestigious commentators such as Enzo Biagi

Enzo Biagi

Enzo Biagi was an Italian journalist and writer.-Biography:Biagi was born in Lizzano in Belvedere, and began his career as a journalist in Bologna. Active in journalism for six decades and author of some eighty books, Biagi won numerous awards, among which the 1979 Saint Vincent prize and the...

 and Alberto Ronchey

Alberto Ronchey

Alberto Ronchey was an Italian journalist, essayist and politician. He was the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities from 1992 to 1994 in Giuliano Amato's cabinet and subsequently Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's cabinet. He was president of RCS MediaGroup from 1994 to 1998.-Works:* Le...

 from the Corriere. On a quest to top circulation figures in Italy, chief editor Scalfari launched new reader-friendly initiatives. There were now 40 pages, including various news sections, entertainment and sport. The newspaper was now pitched as an "omnibus newspaper" (a paper catering for all types of readers).

Politically, while the paper kept backing the progressive left, its approach to governmental parties was altered: its traditional opposition to Bettino Craxi's line was coupled on the other hand with overtures to Ciriaco De Mita

Ciriaco de Mita

Ciriaco Luigi de Mita is an Italian politician. He served as the 47th Prime Minister of Italy from 1988 to 1989 and is currently Member of the European Parliament.-Biography:De Mita was born in Nusco, in the Avellinese hinterland....

, one of the leading figures on the DC

Christian Democracy (Italy)

Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....

 Left [5]. This also seemed to pay off as in 1985 "la Repubblica" sold an average of 372,940 copies, about 150,000 more than in 1981[6].

1986 marked the newspaper's tenth birthday. A special issue was released in celebration, Ten years 1976/1985 consisting of 10 files in coated paper, one per each year, with the re-issuing of many original articles. The launch was backed by a successful advertising campaign featuring a young university student seen purchasing "la Repubblica". Ten years later, the same student is pictured as an adult. He's holding the same newspaper, but in the meantime he's worked his way up to an important managerial position in a large company. The same year saw the launch of weekly financial supplement Affari & finanza, edited by Giuseppe Turani. "la Repubblica" continued the game of catch up with Corriere della Sera

Corriere della Sera

The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...

 and, on some occasions, (December 1986) they actually managed to overtake their rivals.

In 1987 "la Repubblica" launched a prize competition called Portfolio, a type of stock market-based lottery. Readers were encouraged to buy the newspaper daily in order to check shares value. The prize turned out more lucrative than the supplements, the latter increasing sales for one or two days a week only. "la Repubblica", gained almost 200,000 copies within three months, stretching to a total daily average of nearly 700,000. [7]. At that point, "la Repubblica" became the best-selling Italian newspaper.

The Corriere della Sera

Corriere della Sera

The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...

 hit back with a free Saturday magazine and in turn "la Repubblica" reciprocated with their own magazine, "Venerdì

Venerdì

Il Venerdì is a weekly issue of la Repubblica....

", launched on 16 October 1987, the same day as "Affari & Finanza". The via Solferino publishing group won't be able to reclaim the top spot for yet another two years.

"Segrate War" (Guerra di Segrate)

At the end of the Eighties, believing that a stronger financial support was needed for the growth of the group, Carlo Caracciolo

Carlo Caracciolo

Don Carlo Caracciolo di Castagneto was the 9th Principe di Castagneto, 4th duca di Melito and an Italian publisher. He created Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, one of Italy's leading publishing groups...

 and Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari is an Italian journalist, editor of the news magazine L'espresso , former member of parliament in the Italian Chamber of Deputies , co-founder of the newspaper La Repubblica and its editor from 1976 to 1996.-Biography:A law graduate with a interest in journalism and politics,...

 (main shareholders of the Espresso group) sold all their shares to Carlo De Benedetti

Carlo De Benedetti

Carlo De Benedetti is an Italian industrialist, engineer and publisher. He is both an Italian and naturalized Swiss citizen....

.

Already a major shareholder of Mondadori, Benedetti took the Espresso group together with the Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 publisher, with the goal of becoming the main shareholder, buying the stocks of Arnoldo Mondadori

Arnoldo Mondadori

Arnoldo Mondadori was a noted Italian publisher.Mondadori was born at Poggio Rusco, Mantua and died in Milan.His publishing house is today the largest in Italy.-External links:*...

’s heirs. Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...

 prevented it, starting the so called “Segrate War” (from the town of Segrate

Segrate

Segrate is a town and comune located in the Province of Milan in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. In December 2004 it had some 33,000 inhabitants....

 close to Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 where the Mondadori main office is located). In 1991, after more than two years of legal and financial battles, the struggle was ended by the controversial entrepreneur Giuseppe Ciarrapico on behalf of the prime minister of the time, Giulio Andreotti

Giulio Andreotti

Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...

, that persuaded De Benedetti and Berlusconi to split the “Grande Mondadori”. De Benedetti received “La Repubblica”, “L’Espresso” and the local newspapers, Berlusconi received Mondadori without the newspapers. The controversial operation was the main point of a lawsuit that involved Berlusconi, charged with corruption of legal proceedings. This lawsuit became famous as the "Lodo Mondadori" (the Mondaroi Decision). A sentence on the 3 October 2009 by the Causa Civile (Civil Court of Milan) pronounced that Berlusconi’s Fininvest

Fininvest

Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...

 must compensate the CIR

CIR Group

CIR Group is the industrial holding company of the De Benedetti Group, controlled by COFIDE — Gruppo De Benedetti, the financial holding company of the De Benedetti family....

 of Carlo De Benedetti a total of 750 million euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s for the financial losses due to "perdita di chance" (lost opportunities) from the Lodo Mondadori decision.
In the following years new publishing projects were added to the newspaper information offer. “La Repubblica”, that up to that day was never released on Monday, buys for 50 millions of lire the brand “Lunedì di Repubblica”, satirical magazine and first true/false newspaper published by Vincenzo Sparagna, author of Frigidaire

Frigidaire

Frigidaire is a brand of consumer and commercial appliances. Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and developed the first self-contained refrigerator in 1916. In 1918, William C...

. the launch occurred on the 10 January 1994: on this period the newspaper has an average circulation of 660.000 copies. 1995, besides being the year of the introduction of the supplements “Musica! Rock & altro” and “Salute”, is the year of the graphical revolution: colour is introduced on the first page and in the advertisements.

On May 1996, after twenty years Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari

Eugenio Scalfari is an Italian journalist, editor of the news magazine L'espresso , former member of parliament in the Italian Chamber of Deputies , co-founder of the newspaper La Repubblica and its editor from 1976 to 1996.-Biography:A law graduate with a interest in journalism and politics,...

 handed over as Editor in Chief to the current editor Ezio Mauro

Ezio Mauro

Ezio Mauro is an Italian journalist and editor-in-chief of the newspaper la Repubblica.- Biography :Mauro was born in Dronero, Italy. He started is career as journalist writing for the local newspaper Gazzetta del Popolo in Turin...

 but remained an important contributor within the newspaper. In the same year the weekly women's supplement “D” (Donne) was launched.

1996-9

On April 5, 1996 the website "'http://www.repubblica.interbusiness.it'" was launched as a collaborative effort with Digital and Interbusiness (a unit of Telecom Italia), as an on-line trial version of the newspaper, created for election of the April 21.

In August 1996 Mauro began a project “Repubblica lavori in corso” (Repubblica - work in progress), with the objective of testing the organization for the realization of an on-line edition. In this phase the project was coordinated by Vittorio Zambardino, Gualtiero Pierce and Ernesto Assante, with technical direction by Alessandro Canepa.

On January 14, 1997 the on-line version of the newspaper Repubblica.it was launched, later to become the main Italian information website, with over 10.6 millions users.

2000-

In 2004, through a gradual process, the newspaper introduced colour in every page. This decision shifted the whole Italian newspaper market, forcing the competition to adopt similar measures.

On 19 October 2007 the newspaper's graphics and layout were renovated. La Repubblica split in two newspapers: one dedicated to the news and the other (Called “R2”) to analysis of current events.

Current position

The newspaper could be regarded as close to the moderate left wing of the political spectrumside, although it has never spared criticism of the parties and politicians of this grouping including, among other things, the so-called "moral problem" of Italian politics (first mentioned by Italian politician Enrico Berlinguer

Enrico Berlinguer

Enrico Berlinguer was an Italian politician; he was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1972 until his death.-Early career:...

) and the fragmentation of left-wing political forces.

The newspaper has always had a quite critical line towards Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...

, especially criticizing his conflict of interest

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

 as both entrepreneur and politician. In August 2009 Berlusconi sued the newspaper

after it published ten questions addressed to him (and which he refused to answer, most of these questions involved the escort scandal directly connected to him).

“La Repubblica” is also characterized for its stand against the Catholic Church, often criticizing it, especially on ethic

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

al topics and its interference in these issues, which were vehemently denounced by Scalfari.

On the 20th of November 2007, the newspaper exclusively revealed some wiretapping transcripts between certain RAI

RAI

RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...

 and Mediaset

Mediaset

Mediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...

 directors, aimed at modifying some parts of the TV scheduling of 2005 (regarding the death of the Pope and the regional elections of 2005

Italian regional elections, 2005

The Italian regional elections of 3–4 April 2005 were a major victory for the centre-left The Union coalition, led by Romano Prodi. The centre-right coalition, governing in the national government, was defeated in all the regions it held, except for its strongholds in Lombardy and Veneto, whose...

).

Supplements and features

• La Domenica di Repubblica: Started in November 2004 and published every Sunday, it is composed of 20 pages dedicated to the insights of current events, show business, lifestyle and free time. "La Domenica di Repubblica" is inspired by Sunday editions of the main British newspapers, enriched by numerous features on several topics.
• L'Almanacco dei libri: Published since 2004 every Saturday with 8 pages of reviews and charts of books.
• Il Venerdì: Weekly magazine.
• Diario di Repubblica: Twice-weekly (Tuesday and Friday) of 4 pages inside the newspaper with insights into important topics of current times analyzing one key word. At the end of the year the pages of the "Diary" are collected and published in a bound book sold with the newspaper.
• Album di Repubblica: special feature of the journal.
• D – La repubblica delle Donne: Weekly magazine primarily aimed at women, which can be downloaded free of charge from its website.
  • DCasa: weekly supplement devoted to housing issues, which can be downloaded free of charge from its website.
• Velvet Monthly magazine devoted to fashion since November 2006.
• xL Monthly magazine aimed at the youth market since August 2005.
• Metropoli: Weekly feature on multi-cultural Italy.
• Viaggi: Weekly feature devoted to travel.
• Salute: Weekly feature devoted to health issues.
• Il Lavoro, formerly a Genoa
  Genoa
  Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
  
  n socialist newspaper, nowadays a feature published only in the local Liguria
  Liguria
  Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
  
  n edition.

The newspaper has also published The New York Times International Weekly on Mondays since 2004. This English language supplement features articles selected from The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 and can be downloaded free of charge from La Repubblica's website.

Cartoonists

• Francesco Tullio Altan
  Francesco Tullio Altan
  -Biography:He was born in Treviso, the son of Friulian anthropologist Carlo Tullio Altan. He studied in the University IUAV of Venice, but halted his studies to work for cinema and TV as scenographer and writer. In 1970 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he created his first comics series for...
  
  
• Massimo Bucchi
• Ellekappa
• Giorgio Forattini (until 1999)

Circulation

Year	Average daily copies sold
2009	504.098
2008	518.907
2007	580.966
2006	588.275
2005	587.268
2004	586.419
2003	581.102
2002	579.269
2001	574.717
2000	566.811
1999	562.494
1998	562.857
1997	594.213
1996	575.447

Source Ads – Accertamenti Diffusione Stampa

External links

• La Repubblica Official Website
• La Repubblica Official Mobile Website
• La Repubblica on Twitter
  Twitter
  Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
  
  : http://twitter.com/redazionerep and http://twitter.com/repubblicait