Mediation and media; change and reaction

The story so far: journalism

• 17th c for a brief period, then clamp down• Early 18th c in new social and political order:

change and reaction: stability after 17th c– Public sphere– Magazines– Addison and commerce:

• Mercantilist capitalism with public debt– Sam Johnson:

• Grub Street• Paternoster Row

The story so far: London

• Roman north of the river• City (Money and trade), Westminster (law and

government), Southwark (rock and roll)• Sucking people in• The new City rebuilt after Great Fire• Centre of national capital flows• Great port

The story so far: your points

• The individual and Addison• Blue Plaques• Travel: Johnson quote• The importance of place and time• Communicate content to the “you” in the

reader

The story so far: PR

• Fashion + celebrities• Crafting the story for the brand• Getting the spin on the dress

William Hazlitt (1778-1830)

• Reason and emotion• From a radical family• Impact of the change of the first phase of the

French Revolution– Formation of left and right– A republic– A rational state– Rights of people

Hazlitt

• To essay: to assay – the way up• Radical and romantic poets• Remained a radical• On utilitalirans: Bentham’s view is like a map, correct in

its form but without colour and relief• Attack on Tories: A Tory is...• In death: “He lived to see his deepest wishes gratified as

he expressed them in his Essay ‘On the Fear of Death.’ Viz.: ‘To see the downfall of the Bourbons and some prospect of good to mankind.”

London

• The docking facilities of the City were at breaking point and there was a lot of pilfering.

• West India merchants proposed new docks east of London in 1793.

• Construction started 1799; finished 1806• High profits and spread London out east

1799

1805 1805

1828

1807

1855

1868

1880

1921

1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920

Series1; 1.11.3

1.61.9

2.2

2.7

3.2

3.8

4.7

5.8

6.5

London population

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Dickens

• Household Words etc• Observed the impact of the industrial

revolution: Hard Times 1854– The reaction to the industrial revolution– The Great Exhibition 1851

• Observed life in London: Oliver Twist 1838• Told the rising middle class in his journalism

“something must be done”• Novels as journalism: chapters published in

magazines

Imperial London

• 1858 First trans-Atlantic cable: broke after a month

• London: the capital and the manufacturing:– Cable made in London: Greenwhich– Great Eastern: London– The Victorian Internet– Coordinate empire

Crimean war: 1854-1856

• Ottoman Empire (Turkey) crumbling• Russia expanding west, south and east• UK, France & Turkey v Russia• Fought in north of Black Sea• Telegraph line from Marseilles

Crimea coverage

• William Howard Russell (1820-1907) The Times

• The Battle of Balaclava in The Times 14 November 1854 in The Mammoth Book of Journalism

• “Valour..versus a savage and barbarian enemy.”

• Reporter as observer: I saw this...

Crimea coverage

• “And now occurred the melancholy catastrophe which fills us all with sorrow”

• A table of losses ends the piece• Went on to report Indian Mutiny, US Civil

War, Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and Zulu War.

• The Times: 700,000 circulation

• Committed observer: “a savage and barbarian enemy”…. “under my own eyes”…. “A braver soldier than Capt Nolan the army did not possess.”

• Writing for the elite as literacy low and price high

• Changed policy on hospitals and war• Also image reporting...

London Illustrated News:1842-1989

Not a Profession

• Entry criteria: you can do it and you are cheap• Discipline: from the employer/editor• Exit: fired• Managed to make themselves professions in

the 19th century:– Doctors– Dentists– Civil engineers etc

The ethic

• Doctors: do not harm• Lawyers: represent your client• Journalists: get the story; entertain• PRs: represent your client’s best interests

George Newnes (1851-1910)

George Newnes 1851-1910

• Congregationalist, Midlands, Liberal, Philanthropist

• Tit-Bits 1881, moved to London 1885• The Strand 1891-1950• The Million 1892• Country Life 1897• Wide World Magazine 1898-1965• Ladies’ Field 1898

The Strand 1891 - 1950• Middle and lower upper

class: “confirmed their values and fostered and celebrated their achievements” Jackson George Newnes Ashgate 2001 p88

• Monthly: 6d (£1.96 RPI)• Short stories, reporting,

profiles, interviews, humour

• A-political; status quo

• “An editorial bias in favour of the timeless as against the timely” Pound, Mirror of the Century, Heinemann, 1966, p64

• The social space of upper-middle class literary world Jackson p102

• 300K copies of 1st issue: 400K by 1896

The Strand

• Mary Spencer-Warren• Subjects: Royalty, Royal

Palaces and the upper classes

• Regular contributor

The Strand 1891 - 1950• Middle and lower upper

class: “confirmed their values and fostered and celebrated their achievements” Jackson George Newnes Ashgate 2001 p88

• Monthly: 6d (£1.96 RPI)• Short stories, reporting,

profiles, interviews, humour

• A-political; status quo

• “An editorial bias in favour of the timeless as against the timely” Pound, Mirror of the Century, Heinemann, 1966, p64

• The social space of upper-middle class literary world Jackson p102

• 300K copies of 1st issue: 400K by 1896

Wide World Magazine 1898-1965Truth is stranger than fiction

Wednesday

• Frontline Club• 13 Norfolk Place, W2• Paddington