Mass celebrates 130 years of the Listín Diario newspaper

The newspaper Listín Diario celebrated the 130th anniversary of its foundation last night with a Mass that Monsignor Ramón Benito Angeles officiated, who advocated maintaining and defending the truth, ethics, and values ​​in the media, since informing is a duty and being informed a law.

The Mass was conducted at the Primada de América Cathedral in the presence of Listín Diario’s director, Miguel Franjul; the first lady Cándida Montilla de Medina; the president of the Corripio Group, José Luis Corripio Estrada; Manuel and José A. Corripio Alonso and José Rizek. 

In the homily, the auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese raised the role of social media in society, which must be at the service of the common good, as an ethical principle. “The media must serve the needs and interests of the most vulnerable sectors, such as the poor, the elderly, unborn children, children, youth, the oppressed, the marginalized, women, minorities; the sick and the disabled,” he said. 

He affirmed that it is an ethical duty to communicate the truth about the meaning of human life and history, as a reflection of responsibility and sensitivity. He added that “the human being and communication are the ends and the average of the use of social media.” He considered that users of the media have a duty to learn to see, hear and read with critical sense and discernment the information services that come to them through the various media. “There is a strong tendency to confuse the ethics of information with the legal norms emanating from legislative bodies,” he said, considering that sometimes ethics is absorbed by the arbitrariness of democratic consensus. 

He congratulated the Daily List and his staff. He concluded with a prayer for peace.

Miguel Franjul, director of the Listín Diario said that this medium is the only one that has survived the foundations in the nineteenth century, has maintained its adherence to the truth, exercising free and independent journalism, according to the changes Dominican society has undergone.

He said that the Daily List will continue to defend freedom of expression, without falling into false news and actions that affect society, contributing to education and strengthening democracy. 

Ana María Alonso de Corripio, Manuel and José Alfredo Corripio Alonso attended; José Luis Corripio Estrada, Samir Rizek, Julio César Castaños and his wife Belkis Zuaín de Castaños; Ligia Bonetti, Patricia Alvarez, Marcos Haché, Vinicio Castillo, Francisco Domínguez Brito, Melba Grullón, Felipe Pagé, Iris Cuevas, Milton Ray Guevara and Víctor Bisonó. 

The Daily List

El Listín Diario was founded on August 1, 1889, by Arturo Pellerano and Julián Artiles, as an information journal on commercial activities in Dominican ports. In the era of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, it closed for a short time due to the pressures of the regime. Its owners are currently an equity group headed by Manuel Corripio.