O Estado de S. Paulo

In the end of the 19th century, the Estado was already the largest newspaper in São Paulo, exceeding the circulation of the Correio Paulistano. Property of the Mesquita family since 1902,[8] the Estado supported the Allied cause in World War I, suffering reprisals from the German community in the city, which removed all advertising announcements from the newspaper. Despite this, the Mesquitas maintained their editorial position. During the war, the afternoon edition of the newspaper began to circulate throughout the country. It was known as Estadinho (lit. "Little Estado"), directed by the then young Júlio de Mesquita Filho.

In 1924, the newspaper Estado was banned from circulation for the first time, after the defeat of the tenants' rebellion that shook the city. Júlio Mesquita, who tried to mediate a dialogue between the rebels and the government, was imprisoned and taken to Rio de Janeiro, before being freed shortly thereafter.[9]

With the death of the old director of 1927, his son Júlio de Mesquita Filho assumed the directory along with his brother Franscisco, the latter managing the financial aspects of the newspaper.

In 1930 the Estado, connected to the Democratic Party, supported the candidature of Getúlio Vargas for the Liberal Alliance.[9] With the victory of Vargas, the newspaper saw the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 as a mark of the end of the oligarchy system.[9]

The so-called Grupo Estado assumed in 1932 the leadership of the constitutionalist revolution. With its defeat, many people from the directory were exiled, including Júlio de Mesquita Filho and Francisco Mesquita.[9] One year later, in August, Getúlio Vargas invited Armando de Salles Oliveira to be the governor in São Paulo. Armando Salles, son-in-law of Júlio Mesquita (by then already deceased), imposed as a condition for his acceptance the position the amnesty of the rebels of 1932 and a convocation of a constituent assembly. Vargas agreed and Júlio de Mesquita Filho and Francisco Mesquita, as well as other exiled people, returned to Brazil.[10]

Headquarters of the newspaper, on the Marginal Tietê.

Years later, with the appearance of the "Estado Novo", the newspaper maintained its opposition to the regime and, in March 1940, it was invaded by DOPS (part of the government that controlled and restrained opponents and movements that were antithetical to the Estado Novo regime) and the paper was altered by them to state that, with absurdity and mockery, "guns were arrested" in the redaction. The newspaper was initially closed and afterwards was confiscated by the dictatorship, being administrated by DIP (Department of the Press [Port."Imprense"] and Propaganda) until 1945, when the Estado was returned by the Supreme Federal Court to its legitimate owners. The numbers published during this governmental intervention are not considered part of the actual history of the paper.

Shortly after World War II the Estado enjoyed great advances, with the increase in editing and of its good reputation. In the 1950s, the Major Quedinho Street headquarters were built, adjacent to the Hotel Jaraguá. That was the phase when the section Internacional ("International") of the newspaper, directed by the journalist Giannino Carta and by Ruy Mesquita, became known as the most complete of any national newspaper. From that time until the 1970s, O Estado showed almost exclusively international news on its first page.

During the República Nova ("New Republic") (1946–1964) the Estado profiled itself to the National Democratic Union of Carlos Lacerda and opposed all the other governments, especially João Goulart. In 1954, O Estado de S. Paulo led a national campaign against the elected democratic President, Getúlio Vargas, leading him to commit suicide. In 1962, the director Júlio de Mesquita Filho even wrote a Roteiro da Revolução ("Guide to Revolution"), in an attempt to unify civilian opposition against the army, the then called "boasting party", which had intervened in Brazilian politics since the beginning of the Republic. In 1964, the Estado supported the military coup[10] and the indirect election of Castelo Branco. Shortly after the Institutional Act n° 2 which dissolved the other political parties, the journal broke away from the regime.[10]

On 13 November 1968, the editor of the Estado was arrested because of Mesquita Filho's refusal to eliminate from the section Notas e Informações ("Notes and Information") the editorial Instituições em Frangalhos ("Institutions in Frazzles").[11] where he denounced the end of any normal and simple democratic appearance. From then on, the newspaper began disputing censored editions of its news by the Brazilian Federal Police, unlike other national newspapers that did not dispute censorship by the government.

With the death of Mesquita Filho, the Estado was directed by Julio de Mesquita Neto. Then, the newspaper gained worldwide visibility when it denounced the preemptive censorship of articles and replaced them with verses of the Portuguese classic The Lusiads, by Luís de Camões.[11] In 1974, it received the Golden Pen of Freedom Award, bestowed by the International Federation of Editions and Newspapers.[11]

In the 1970s, the newspaper ran into debt because of the construction of its new headquarters by the Tietê river, leading to a financial crisis, as it competed with a new standard of journalism represented by Folha de S. Paulo.

In 1986, the Estado hired the renowned journalist Augusto Nunes to be its chief editor. He updated the news bulletin of Estado and endeavored upon a series of reformed graphics, that would result in the adoption, in 1991, of colored printing in its daily editions. Before that, Estado was not issued on Monday and holidays.

In 1996, Júlio de Mesquita Neto died and Ruy Mesquita, his brother, became the new director. Previously, Ruy directed Jornal da Tarde, owned by the Estado network.

After an unsuccessful experience in the area of telecommunications, the Estado network was restructured in 2003 and most of the Mesquita family lost their directorship roles. Massive layoffs also occurred. After balancing its budget, the Estado embarked upon a new graphic reformulation in October 2004. It also created new notebooks and received many prizes for excellence in graphic displays.

• Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers (1980) pp. 117–23