May 2008

El Progreso de Lugo

This year’s centenary newspaper issue is devoted to El Progreso de Lugo, which began to be printed on the 17th August 1908.

Originally, this paper defined itself as liberal, since its foundation took place after top national leaders of the liberal party visited Lugo. Later on, this definition disappeared from its masthead and it became an independent general information paper, adding on some time later local information on Lugo and its province.

El Progreso was founded by Purificación de Cora y Más-Villafuerte and has published articles by distinguished writers such as Cela, Alvaro Cunqueiro, Anxel Fole, Celestino Fernández de la Vega and Juan Rof Carballo, amongst others. In the 80’s it underwent an ambitious process of modernisation with the building of a new print in the industrial park of O Ceao in Lugo. In the mid 90’s colour was introduced in the print with a KBA Comet rotary press and lately it has begun a process of expansion with the purchase of other mastheads such as the Diario de Pontevedra, local televisions, digital papers and audiovisual production. El Progreso, besides making editorial products for Galicia and Lugo in its printing centre in O Ceao, prints LV a free paper published in Galician which is distributed in the main Galician towns. It also publishes Nova+, with financial information and La Comarca del Eo.

According to the figures published by the EGM (Estudio General de Medios), El Progreso, is leader in general information in the Lugo province with 103,000 daily readers, and is the third paper in Galicia.

The stamp, besides allusive motifs to its 100th anniversary depicts a tree with a torn trunk, a symbolic motif, designed by Lugo born painter García Gesto.