These are the 12 principles with which EL UNIVERSO, a 101-year-old newspaper, is conducted

EL UNIVERSO newspaper was founded on September 16, 1921. Today it is turning 101, faithful to the journalistic principles that its founder, Mr. Ismael Pérez Pazmiño, instilled from its beginnings and that those who succeeded him maintained and maintain unwavering.

On the night of September 14, 1921, Don Ismael found out from Mr. Luis Guevara, a personal friend and director of the newspaper The universal, that this newspaper was going to close down; then, he proposed the purchase of the facilities, and he accepted. The next day, September 15, the deal was closed and The universal announced its closure with that day’s edition.

Ismael Pérez Pazmiño raised EL UNIVERSO after power tried to silence him

The next day, the name with which he took to the streets was EL UNIVERSO, the same one that today reaches the country and the world through its print and digital platforms, in addition to sharing information of interest to audiences on its social networks.

These are the twelve principles that govern us:

1. We carry out our mission in the exercise of freedom of the press, whose validity will be demanded and defended by the newspaper, within the institutional framework and in compliance with the legally constituted authorities.
2. We advocate respect for the private life of citizens, social morality, the institutions that make up society and national unity in the acceptance of diversity and in defense of our territoriality.
3. We respect the dignity, privacy, rights and well-being of people, both in business dealings and in journalistic coverage. EL UNIVERSO does not prohibit the concealment of relevant information, but neither does it allow the violation of the rights of individuals.
4. We favor all efforts in favor of peace and we reject any movement that invokes violence or de facto ways to achieve its goals. We reject extreme positions and adopt a position of center and balance in the face of the country’s problems.
5. We maintain our independence and reject pressure from any source to vary the objective meaning of information.
6. We work without political, social, labor, commercial commitments or of any kind that may interfere with the primary right of the reader to know the truth.
7. We always remember that we work for the reader and that this implies the responsibility of being the depository of the right that every citizen has to be informed.
8. We defend the confidentiality of the sources of information, and of all the data that the company handles in all departments and functions.
9. We use the pages and website of the newspaper to fulfill our journalistic objectives, in no case to favor or harm people, economic groups, political parties, religious denominations, social organizations or public or private institutions, nor to seek personal benefits.
10. We maintain an efficient and law-abiding organization that guarantees the necessary profitability to sustain journalistic independence and ensure the sustained leadership of the company over time.
11. We believe that the success of our task is based on the adequate selection of human resources and their development, commitment and motivation, as well as effective and adequate administration. We encourage and appreciate the love of a job well done, team achievements and good interpersonal relationships.
12. We reiterate the shared and unitary decision of the descendants of the founder Ismael Pérez Pazmiño to maintain the Diario as a family patrimony that is enriched by the contribution of its collaborators and as an organization with Guayaquil roots with a deep vocation of service to the country. We accept what our founder Ismael Pérez Pazmiño affirmed: “For this newspaper, all kinds of interests are secondary to the interests of the nation.”

This is how Ismael Pérez Pazmiño, founder of EL UNIVERSO, thought and wrote