During a shareholders' meeting for the Chilean newspaper La Nacion, government representatives, who control 69 percent of the company's shares, voted to close and liquidate the storied newspaper on Monday, Sept. 24, reported the EFE news agency.
The decision puts an end to the 95-year-old newspaper and leaves 117 people without work. Unions and minority shareholders opposed the decision. EFE reported that the private company Colliguay, owner of 31 percent of the newspaper's shares, plans to sue the State because "there are no economic reasons to justify the decision to close the company." A representative for the unions said they would appear in court to block the move. The Chilean Union of Journalists said that President Sebastian Pinera, of the center-right Renovacion Nacional, demonstrated his intentions to close the newspaper before assuming the presidency in 2010. Pinera accused the newspaper of operating like a "propaganda factory" for the center-left coalition that governed the country between 1990 and 2010, reported EFE.
The leader of the newspaper's workers, Nancy Arancibia, told the Associated Press that the decision will further increase media consolidation in the country, currently dominated by two companies. The newspaper La Nacion was founded in 1917 and is located in front of the Palacio de la Moneda, the seat of government. Since 2010, La Nacion has operated as an exclusively online publication after the president canceled its print version, citing economic problems.