ANTONIO FONTAN IS DEAD

BY JUAN ANTONIO GINER, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONSULTING GROUP

I just got the sad news that Antonio Fontan is dead.

He was the editor of Madrid, the iconic newspaper that was shut down and blow up by the Franco Regime in 1972.

In the picture he is with some of the editors of the paper in front a picture of the final destruction of the building’s paper.

The government suspended the newspaper, which was in favor of democracy and against the authoritarian rule of General Fanco.

Fontán was prosecuted on 19 occasions and fined 10 times.

In October 1971 the authorities demanded Fontán’s resignation, closing down the paper for good a few weeks later.

The International Press Institute (IPI) named him one of the “Heroes of Press Freedom.”

Later he became the first Senate President of Spain’s democracy.

Founder of the University of Navarre School of Journalism, Antonio Fontan was one of the most charismatic and brilliant personalities of the Spanish press.

In 2008 he was made Marqués de Guadalcanal by the King Juan Carlos I as an hommage to their contributions to the political freedom and civil peace in Spain.

I was editor of NUESTRO TIEMPO, a current affairs magazine founded by him, and I had some wonderful meetings, moments that I will never forget.

“Don Antonio” as we used to call him, was a real gentleman, a master and a role model for many young journalists of my generation.

We will miss him very much.