Note 7 — Chapter XII · Progress and Revolution. 1837–1897.

Influence of the Press.—The growth of periodic literature accelerated this liberalizing movement. The press, though suffering a severe censorship, has played a large part in shaping recent thought in these islands and in communicating to the Filipino people those ideas and purposes which ever inspire and elevate men.7 The first newspaper to make its appearance in the Philippines was in 1822—“El Philantropo”; but journalism assumed no real importance until the forties, when there were founded “Semanario Filipino” (1843), and almost immediately after several others—“El Amigo de Pais” (1845), “La Estrella” (1846), and “La Esperanza” (1847), the first daily. These were followed by “Diario de Manila” (1848); in 1858 “El Comercio” appeared, the oldest of the papers still in existence.8