Subscribers and newspaper subscriptions in Spain at the beginning of the XX century. Notes from an asturian perspective

Abstract

In the first decades of the XX century the possibility of a particular newspaper having a high number of subscribers was, from the point of view of the newspaper publishers, the best guarantee of its stability. However it was not all advantages in a system which gave rise to numerous complaints and created a peculiar relationship with the subscriber. By various means —delivery men, the post and public establishments, principally— the subscription service continually generated situations illustrative of the level of development of the Spanish press in years in which progress accelerates and deficiencies and limitations also become apparent. Limitations which, particularly in an outlying region with mostly inadequate means of communication such as Asturias, could become one of the main factors delaying the establishment of a large press with mass-readership.