In 1916 Félix F. Palavicini founded EL UNIVERSAL newspaper in Mexico City. If the only telephone rang, Benjamín Tirado, son of a typesetter, would get frightened, as it seemed like a magical thing. He also recalls when the reporters read their notes aloud while typing in Remington typewriters "at a blistering pace." 

Around that time Venustiano Carranza arrived with his entourage to Santiago de Querétaro to proclaim it the Republic's capital. It was the Mexican Revolution. 

Felix F. Palavicini predicted, in the first editorial of the Diario Político de la Mañana, that EL UNIVERSAL would be the only one that would survive, grow and transform constantly, becoming an example to be followed.

The headlines of two stories published in the first number of the newspaper on October 1, 1916, the headlines read: "Justice administration is restored in the Republic" and "The electoral campaign to the Constituent Congress has begun." 

In the newsroom and printing facilities, it was common to hear: Hurry up, guys!" from the office of Felix F. Palavicini; with the same enthusiasm that a couple of years ago Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, Executive Chairman and head of the Board of Directors of EL UNIVERSAL, told the employees in the fifth floor of the newsroom: " I know there is a rumor that the paper will be sold. And yes ... it is true, it will be sold tomorrow morning at newsstands, so: Hurry up, guys! Let us work." 

To Ealy Ortiz, EL UNIVERSAL "is much more than a simple chronology of events that led us to the place of privilege where we stand today: it is the living memory of an entire country, the story of an independent passion that is our motivation and raison d'être, the spirit that guides us and encourages us to keep going every day (...), creating public opinion, announcing and wondering along with millions of Mexicans about the technological advances that we have experienced, becoming the accomplices of our readers who see in the paper's pages a true reflection of their concerns and hopes." 

In 1916 bottles of champagne were opened when the first issue of the newspaper was out in the streets with eight pages: 60,000 copies that cost 40 cents were printed, while the price of the quarterly subscription was 3 pesos. 

Back then, cablegrams made ​​it possible for information to arrive daily from anywhere in the world; and EL UNIVERSAL was a pioneer on this. On those days, the news agency Associated Press (AP) gave an exclusive to this newspaper: "Wilson will not use the American Army to support Mexico's narrow interests." 

On February 1, 1917 EL UNIVERSAL celebrated in its pages the promulgation of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, the original was printed on the presses of this newspaper. The main story said: "Thousands of Mexicans knew the Constitution on the same day it was enacted". Back then Mexico City had 721,000 inhabitants. 

Not everything was simple in the first decade of the newspaper. EL UNIVERSAL was closed in 1917 by the military due to its editorial line and Carranza was asked to arrest Palavicini. Meanwhile, the newspaper decided to continue paying its payroll: 25,000 gold pesos, "not a negligible amount", according to historical archives. 

On October 7, 1917 the newspaper announced the resignation of its founder. Palavicini sold its majority stake to Rafael Nieto and Alfredo Breceda, who acquired control of the company. EL UNIVERSAL Ilustrado started being published that year. For many decades, it was the weekly Mexican magazine that showed the most exclusive fashion in Paris and New York, besides containing movie information, book and magazine reviews of virtually all writers, poets and playwrights of Mexico. 

Known as El Vate, poet José D. Farías was the first Mexican war correspondent during World War I. The newspaper opened an office in Wall Street, New York, which at that time was becoming a major international news center. By then the newspaper had 24 pages. El Vate took four months to submit his first stories. In Mexico his family and colleagues thought he was dead. 

In 1920 the paper built the "Cathedral of the Press", currently located at Bucareli 12, a building that housed workshops, four presses, offices and a clock that since 1923 plays the musical notes of the National Anthem. Those notes are now heard at 18:00 hours, when the Mexican flag is hoisted at the Zócalo, as Mexico City's main square is better known. 

Women started voting in the United States; Argentina became the first Latin American country to have commercial radio and the first radio news program was broadcast in Detroit, Michigan. 

In the 20s the newspaper had writers such as Martín Luis Guzmán, Vito Alessio Robles, José Vasconcelos, Alfonso Reyes, Manuel M. Ponce and Amado Nervo. There were some outstanding issues that had 100 pages, as the one published on September 1921, on the anniversary of the Consummation of Independence. 

The family grows 

EL UNIVERSAL Gráfico was born in 1922 as an evening newspaper published from Monday to Saturday. On its front page it published the most relevant news of the last hours with a significant display of photographs, "which narrate the events by themselves." The first edition said: "Mexico suspends relations with Venezuela." 

A year later, General Plutarco Elías Calles was nominated presidential candidate, Pancho Villa was assassinated; Zapata had been eliminated; civil resistance had ended and the Maximato was beginning. Television emerged three years later, in 1926. 

The first cartoon of EL UNIVERSAL was published in the 30's. Children read "The Tarugo Family", one of the first color cartoons seen in Mexico. In 1931 Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion. 

Around that time the newspaper faced the hostility of the Office of the President Pascual Ortiz Rubio, who threatened to convince all companies to withdraw from all its publications. His threat came true for the Revista Cinematográfica (Film Journal). 

In 1941, priest Marcial Maciel founded the Legion of Christ. Later, in 2010, EL UNIVERSAL reported: "Vatican says Maciel is guilty of pedophilia." 

Despite the Second World War crisis in 1942, EL UNIVERSAL installed its ticker and telephoto equipment, tools that no newspaper in Latin America used. The correspondents of El Gran Diario de México (The Great Journal of Mexico) reported from the big capital cities of the world: Paris, Washington, London, Berlin, Madrid, and New York. 

The oratorical contest of EL UNIVERSAL started being held in 1950. Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, back then a high school student who later became president of Mexico, participated in the event. In 1953 Porfirio Muñoz Ledo won the national contest while Octavio Paz participated in the third edition. 

In the 60's EL UNIVERSAL replaced the old Remington typewriters with electric typewriters. 

The modernization 

In 1969, the number 19,154 of EL UNIVERSAL had something different: the name of Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, who was appointed manager and general director: a young economist with new and risky ideas took control of the newspaper. "By then the outlook was bleak: debts, buildings and machines in poor conditions, lack of credibility in the administration, poor vision and no reinvestment. Therefore, El Gran Diario de México was on the verge of bankruptcy, according to its archives. 

Soon Ealy Ortiz managed to obtain credits, ended the relationship with corrupt unions, attracted advertisers back to the newspaper and created a climate of confidence that brought great writers and journalists back to the pages of the newspaper. 

The world continued its march. Luis Echeverría Álvarez was named presidential candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and EL UNIVERSAL welcomed Heberto Castillo, a social activist who sent his articles every week from prison with combative subjects. 

Arnoldo Martinez Verduzco and Gilberto Rincón Gallardo, leaders of the Mexican Communist Party who had never had a space in the media, started writing for the EL UNIVERSAL. 

Between 1970 and 1975, great progress was made in restructuring EL UNIVERSAL, that migrated to the Offset System. The newspaper already had 70 pages. 

The company bought a Harris 1650 capable of printing 50,000 copies per hour. When the newspaper turned 60, Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz said: "In 60 years, the practice of independent journalism has been, is and will be the conviction, principle and aspiration of EL UNIVERSAL." 

In 1980 President José López Portillo inaugurated the new Harris 1660 newspaper printing machine and two more units added to the Harris 1650 already installed, plus an electronic typesetting system. 

In 1985 a 7.9 earthquake shook Mexico City, knocking down buildings and hospitals full of people; entire families were under the rubble. EL UNIVERSAL reported: "More than 3,000 dead and 200 buildings damaged; 50,000 families homeless and at least 3,000 people hospitalized ... the worst tragedy so far this century for the inhabitants of the capital city. Emilio Viale signed a story entitled: "The black Thursday that changed Mexico." 

In the following years EL UNIVERSAL experienced a rapid growth, as Mexico and the world changed. 

On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation took San Cristóbal de las Casas, Ocosingo, Las Margaritas and other locations in Chiapas, and on March 23 Luis Donaldo Colosio, presidential candidate, was assassinated in Tijuana, Baja California. 

In 1996, "the independence and pluralism of EL UNIVERSAL bothered many politicians. On September 13, more than 50 officers of the Judicial Police attempted to arrest Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz on Bucareli Street accusing him of tax evasion, without evidence. "It is not unlikely that they wanted to pressure us to change our editorial line; however, this attempt was futile because we continue committed to a journalism that serves society, which should not be construed as a belligerent attitude," Ealy Ortiz said at the ceremony for the 81st anniversary of the newspaper. 

In 1996 EL UNIVERSAL launched its website EL UNIVERSAL Online, that became one of the best pages of major newspapers around the world for its design, structure and content. 

In the late 90s the newspaper was redesigned with a more attractive format and a newsroom with cubicles, computers and direct access to data and images was inaugurated. In October 2000, Ealy Ortiz was elected regional vice president for Mexico of the Inter American Press Association.

In 2002, at the beginning of the new millennium, the newspaper redesigned again and improved its color. EL UNIVERSAL Gráfico was also redesigned and became a morning newspaper. On July 2, the pages of El Gran Diario de Mexico reported on its front page: "Fox wins". 

In 2007 a television studio was opened to strengthen the newspaper's multimedia platform. Simultaneously, the news agency of EL UNIVERSAL, established two decades ago, continued to increase its national and international clients. 

On September 19, 2011, Ealy Ortiz announced that the newspaper would no longer carry advertisements that could be related to sexual exploitation. 

In 2012 EL UNIVERSAL signed an agreement with UnoTV, a news website owned by businessman Carlos Slim Helu, and UN1ÓN, Jalisco project was launched. 

Today, October 1, 2014, the newspaper celebrates its 98th anniversary with a circulation audited by the Instituto Verificador de Medios (Media Verifying Institute) of 166,746 copies a day and more than 583,611 readers. 

The new information technologies make it possible to cover any event real time. The magic is done by the 15 million monthly unique users of EL UNIVERSAL Online, a number that keeps growing while EL UNIVERSAL continues to flourish.