PRENSA, LA

(Spanish: "The Press"), Argentine daily newspaper that, soon after its founding in Buenos Aires in 1869, broke with the traditional emphasis on propaganda to stress professional, accurate news reporting and independent expressions of editorial opinion. La Prensa is widely regarded as the finest Spanish-language newspaper in the world. Its unceasing efforts to report the news without bias have been matched by a continuing concern for human welfare. Early in its history, for example, the paper began to sponsor free legal and medical clinics. The paper has faced government harassment from time to time, notably under the regime of Juan Pern through most of the 1940s. The Pern government finally seized control of La Prensa in 1951, and it became a propaganda organ of the Peronist Confederacin General del Trabajo (General Confederation of Labour). After the overthrow of Pern in 1955, La Prensa reappeared as an independent daily in 1956.