Beginnings and popularity

A Noite was founded in 1911 by Irineu Marinho, Castelar de Carvalho, Marques da Silva and other idealists, such as the first evening newspaper in Rio de Janeiro. Releasing the news at 7:00pm until around 5:30pm, its popularity grew rapidly, which was also aided by last minute headlines in updated editions. The newspaper had seven daily editions and it was the only evening newspaper in Rio to reach a circulation of around two hundred thousand copies.

A turning point

In 1925, Irineu left as the director of the newspaper, and he was replaced by Geraldo Rocha. Marinho was in Europe when he learned about Geraldo's plan to make him a minority shareholder in the company. He later left the company and founded the media conglomerate Grupo Globo, and with it came his own newspaper, O Globo.

A new headquarters

In 1929, the A Noite Building (now the Joseph Gire Building), which was then Rio de Janeiro's tallest building, was inaugurated, serving as A Noite's headquarters. After passing through the hands of French groups, the Federal Government of Brazil (during the Vargas Era) took over the newspaper in 1940. During that decade, under Carvalho Neto's administration, the newspaper returned to a budget balance. However, in the 1950s, it again had a budget deficit.

Closure and reception

A Noite was later closed towards the end of 1957, during a decision by the superintendent of Companies Incorporated into the National Heritage, which was criticized by other newspapers in Rio de Janeiro. "A Noite was born and grew in the shadow of the popular prestige that it managed to gain during a period of political turmoil", wrote Correio da Manhã. "It reached the maximum, then the descent began, when elements outside the profession took over the sheet. The 1930 Revolution completed the work by seizing, through confiscation, the company's assets. In the hands of the Government, the decay of the once-dear newspaper became more and more accentuated. It is over now, from a material point of view, but it has long been morally condemned in public opinion. The justice of the people, in these cases, is inexorable.”

However, the daily newspaper Jornal do Brasil argued that the closure of A Noite represented the "administrative incompetence of the Brazilian State": "The public distrust toward the press of any government is such that in less than twenty years, A Noite stopped to be the greatest evening newspaper in the city to perish [from] an inglorious death. It is a melancholy moment in the life of the city and of the Brazilian press, and the Government must have thought a lot, measured not even the solutions and the paths, before making the old capital suffer this new unexpected pain."

Officials told to the Diário Popular that "the closing of A Noite is part of a plan that ranges from its extinction to the transfer of Rádio Nacional and other agencies to the control of a certain economic group" not identified by them. "The newspaper was, really, without resources to support itself", acknowledged editor-in-chief Carvalho Neto. "It is now believed that the newspaper will be sold. The solution for all would be the validity of the decree elaborated in the government of General Dutra, which gave A Noite to employees. They could lease it with the right to purchase the 'historic cost'. The solution we know today is tragic, painful and, above all, melancholy."