Переведи этот текст профессионально на русский: The Rise of the Mass Press in 19th Century France no highly successful popular newspapers, Le Petit Journal and Le Petit Parisien, had a signijkant role in transforming French public opinion., In the scholar's attempt to evaluate French popular opinion and attitudes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a major device, the study of the daily mass newspaper press, has been curiously neglected. 1 While it is oversimplistic, even presumptuous, to identify completely public with published opinion, the latter, as one important element in the former, ought not be ignored. Considering the role of the mass press in disseminating information to the newly literate populace, the cultural and social importance of the mass press can scarcely be over estimated. Publications resembling the modem newspaper began to appear in France as early as the 17th century but they were strictly regulated and often controlled by the government. This changed in the early years of the French Revolution when complete freedom of the press permitted a wide variety of journals to ap pear. Often these played a major role in inflaming passions and some attained sizable circulations, but they were basically products of the Revolution and thus short-lived. In the decades which followed, the various governments which ruled France usually maintained tight control over the press. Newspapers were usually not intended for mass consump tion; they were doctrinaire and belletris- @The author fonncrly taught history at LaGrange College in Georgia 94 tic and were too expensive for frequent purchase by individuals from the lower socioeconomic stratum of society. But by the middk of the 19th century, the irreversible rise of mass literacy was mating a potentially huge market for publications designed for lower middle and lower class rcaders. The first man to exploit this market successfully on a large scale was Moise Polydore Millaud, an interesting character who had led a varied life as a financier, newspaperman and business promoter prone to get-richquick schemes. * On Feb. 2, 1863, Millaud launched a new venture, the production of a newspaper that sold for only one sou (five centimes or about a penny) instead of the usual three or more. At the time, all political dailies had to pay a stamp tax of six centimes per copy to the Imperial government. Millaud's newspaper, Le Perir Journal, evaded the tax by including articles on almost everything except politics. Under the pseudonym Timothee Trimm, the daily chronicle was written by Leo Lespes, a man " who could take up any subject of history, manners, science, travel and make it attractive and entertaining, as well as instructive for 'A nujor mwn for thu nc$ea u pcrhp the lack of off&l circuhtion tuthth. yc Rmc Dubois. 'Exktctil sur la prrtv franaiv da shtutqua vibbla. " €rude$ de pnw, 327-31 (July 1951). Thia nced to identify the m~u pm an k ovcmm by wing a widc vuiety of unolfidrl IOUKU such u the ANrvmir de la pnw franc& (the tc-allcd yearbook of the French press). contempmry obvmtioru nude in boob and inicka written on the pm. and finurn: upplied by the newpapers tbb. When uaing thac in eonjuwion with ach other. a pattern cmerga which u eoadncnt cnowh to dncrminc the pnnl hierarchy of circulation nta within the French prar For a good exmirution of Millaud's tackgourd yc Rme Ma&kr. Histork de b prrur pmulmnr: De 7hrophrastr Rmodol a la IVr Rcpublique 1631-1945 (Paris: Editiom du Pivou. 1945). pp. 134-8. Downloaded from jmq. sagepub. com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on March 10, 2015 Rise of Mass Press in 19th Century France 95 the crowd. ") Serialized novelsf local Parisian news and releases from the government were also included, but the real success of the newspaper was a consequence of its gross sensationalism. Criminal stories, reports on disasters, tales of adventure and hints of scandal filled the columns. While the idea of a penny press was not completely new, the great magnitude of Millaud's enterprise made it a leader in Europe. By May 1865, Le Petit Journal had attained a daily circulation of 2OO, OOO. 5 Millaud employed every tactic his fertile mind could imagine to keep the circulation rates rising. Walls were placarded, advertising the latest serial. The ground floor of the newspaper's ofiice was a gigantic advertisement in itself, having an aquarium, an art gallery and a virtual circus of attractions. A distribution system was established in the provinces. When Lespes left in 1869 to write for a rival newspaper and the Timothee Trimm chronicle was replaced by one signed Thomas Grimm, Le Petit Journul did not lose its great circulation. In that same year the Tropmann Affair, the story of the murder of a husband and wife and their six children, was exploited by Millaud to the extent of devoting three of his newspaper's four pages to this outrage. When the crime was first announced on J Molphe Cobn. 'Chat Nenpapen d ContimnUl Europe: 111 French Newappn. Second Paper. " 71u Bwkman I044 (March 1900). 'Adre Iddo. p. 284. -(a Ch. 1 Ir Rtit Javmra fi~t auch work, Pwron du Tmd'a " La Rawteaion de Roambak. " publidmi in 1864. cad the mp. per's circulation to jump from 8o. OOO to 2)o. OOO in a few day% Jh de Chmburc. A lrrrm la prrssr (Rrir: th. Fen. Albouy d Oc. 1914). p. 89. 'hhurice Ncpc. 5ur k faititdim" Etudes a% prrssr. 153 (February 1946); Annuah 18. 90, p. 285. 'Emilc &la. 'La pau paNienne. " Eludcs & prrssr. 8277 (na. 15-16 19%). Fin pubtiahcd in the Rlarinn re View Yesin& bopy in August. 1877. it waa tnnahted from Ruuhn to Frmch by Akmder Trifounovitch. 'Amire 1880, p. 286, Le Petit Journd, July 20. 1881. p. 1. 'See Lr Rrir Jowml. July 20, 1881. p. I. for avenge daily adtion nta from 1873 to 1880. In the 189(* and Inter. the newspaper printed its circulation fiyra. often on a weekly bad& It ia interesting to note that even the newsppa's bitler cncmiu did not chakng auch autktiu. For exunpk, Rul BN~I. an outapokcn oppwnt of Ir Prlil Jwrrpl did not haiute to vknowkdp that it aold a million wpiu pa day. I(+ La Drab & I'Homme, May 27. 1898. p. 1. ud? 'he JTmn d Lodon admitted that it -ha a hgcr Wtion th MY two jounub put toyher. " see July 29. 1895. p. 6. Sept. 23, Le Petit Journal sold 357, 000 copies. By the discovery of the eighth body this figure stood at 467, 000, and by the conclusion of Tropmann's trial, the newspaper had reached a circulation of 596, 000. 6 Millaud knew what his clientele wanted. Aided by War The war of 1870 further stimulated the newspaper's growth, and provincial editions began to be printed in Lyon, Bordeaux and Caen. The success of Le Petit Journal appeared complete. It had tapped the new market for literature-the masses. The reasons for its success have probably been summarized best by Emile zola: The fact is that Le Pefir Journal responded to a need... A journal can only succeed if it addresses itself to a determined group of readers. Le Pefir Journul aimed precisely at an enormous mass of poor and uncultured men who, until then, had not had their own journal. It has becn said, not without reason, that it created a new class of readers. ' Following the war, the newspaper experienced a period of difficulty. Millaud squandered his fortune on wild investments and was on the verge of bankruptcy when he died in 1871. With the rise of one-sou journalism in the provinces, the provincial editions ran into stiff competition and had to be discontinued. By the beginning of 1873. the daily circulation had declined to about 235, 000, and the newspaper was 3, 800, 000 francs in debt. * In February of that year it was purchased by a corporation, the Societe anonyme pour L'exploitation du Petit Journal, founded by Emile de Girardin, Hippolyte Marinoni and Charles Jenty. With this change in management, the newspaper resumed the level of growth it had previously enjoyed, reaching an average daily circulation of half a million in 1880 and more than a million a decade later. 9 During the 1890s the Annuaire claimed that Le Petit Journal was the largest selling newspaper in the world. These huge circulation figures 'were merely the most visible manifestation Downloaded from jmq. sagepub. com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on March 10, 2015 96 JOURNALISM of the newspaper’s overall success under the editorship first of Girardin and, beginning in 1883, of M~Gnoni. Profits rose rapidly reaching 3, 3 1 1, 177 francs in 1881. 10 By 1884, stock in the newspaper represented a value of more than 50 million francs. Shares that had sold for 500 francs in 1873 were now worth more than 5, 000 francs. ” When the corporation was admitted to the Paris stock market in October 1884, the editors could hardly restrain their enthusiasm: “This is recognition of a fact that the public itself has acknowledged for a long time; that newspapers can be industrial concerns as advantageous as mines or high finance. ”12 Le Petit Journal did not remain the only one-sou daily in Paris. A number of competitors appeared in the 1860s and 1870s and by 1890 there were 60 such newspapers in Paris alone. ” Yet for many years, no other French journal approached Le Petit Journal in terms of circulation. In 1880 the Ministry of Finance compiled secret reports for the Ministry of Interior which contained the daily statistics of Parisian newspapers. The circulation of Le Petit Journal was three times that of its closest competitor, or as great as that of the next four largest combined. 14 Newspapers such as Lo Petite RPpublique franpobe, Le Petit Moniteur and Lo Lonterne were sensationalist, in varying degrees, and carried stories of murder, adventure and scandal. But they measured their success by criteria more reflective of French journalistic tradition and thus were basically partisan journals of opinion that existed for political rather than commercial reasons. ls The sensationalist reportage was intended to attract a mass readership in the hope that some of the political doctrine would be absorbed in between the stones on crime and Paris gossip. Le Petit Journal was different-it was essentially a business venture that existed to make money through mass sales and the advertising fees that resulted. 16 Following the establishment of the Third Republic and the end of the stamp act, Le Petit Journal legally became a political journal; that is, it printed articles dealing with politics, but this did not QUARTERLY alter its basic nature. While it occasionally took political positions, they never became the overriding concern of the newspaper. In general it avoided harsh pronouncements likely to offend any sizable portion of its clientele. Le Petit Journal could appeal not only to the apolitical but to readers of practically every political persuasion. Its unchallenged position came to an end at the turn of the otntury when a new rival, Le Petit Parisien, surpassed it by using the very methods of mass appeal pioneered by Le Petit Journal. New Competitor Le Petit Parisien was founded in 1876 by Jules Roche and Louis Andrieux as a political organ supporting Radical causes. As one of many similar publications, its appeal and circulation remained limited until 1888 when it came under the control of Jean Dupuy. Dupuy set out to build Le Petit Parisien into a business enterprise patterned on the principals of Millaud, Girardin and Marinoni. He was also an observer of the American press and would later travel to the United States for first hand observations of the mass appeal techniques in practice there. ” The tone of the newspaper changed drastically; gone was the partisan polemics, as political commentary was kept to a minimum, except to instigate such popular activities as a campaign against anarchist terrorism. By 1892 Le Petit Parisien was advertising that it had a daily circulation of 500. 000, of which not less than 200, 000 was in Pans alone. Six years later it claimed to be the larlo Anmmirr 1882. p. 993. “L, Pelif Journai. oct. 16. 1884. p. I. ”lbid. &I. 15, 1884, p. I. ‘>Henti Awnel. Hufoirr d, b presx /raw& drpuu 1789j1ugu a nos jov (Pun: Rapport au Ministh du Corn inera. Expaition Uniwndlc dc 1900, par AdtC MinistCnCl du 2. 5 jankr 1899). p. 859. 1‘I. u Lmfrru. Aug. 21. 1880, p. I: Amunirr 1881. pp. VII-IX. 157hnc ncanpapen opnly admitled their poliIicSl bias and the hrprt welc connected with political pucics-h Pefirr Republque francaiw with the OpportunLtr and later the Soeialiatr. 1, &IN Marifmu with the Orkanirts. and Lm hnrmu with the Radicol SocdisIs. IbOn thc imporianx of adwrtiumrntr in L, Peril Journal. ue Eugene Lhbicf. 1, Jodumr (Paris: Libniric Hach cttc. 1892). p. 219. vol. 1 (LPuwnc: Editions Sp. IWS). pp. 357-74. I’Rene dc Livou. Hurour & la prm froncoiu. Downloaded from jmq. sagepub. com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on March 10, 2015 Rise of Mass Press in 19th Century France 97 gest selling newspaper in Paris18 (indirectly admitting that Le Petit Journal was still the largest in France). Some observers have maintained that it was the Dreyfus Affair which allowed Dupuy's journal to surpass its great ri~al. 1~ Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew, had been sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island for allegedly selling military secrets to the Germans. However as more evidence was uncovered, it became apparent that Dreyfus was innocent. The army, convinced that its honor was at stake, refused to admit its error, and a tremendous political crisis ensued. Disregarding all caution, Le Petit Journal became one of the most virulent of the anti-Dreyfus organs. In contrast, Le Petit Parisien remained as close to neutrality as possible. The effect of the Dreyfus Affair on the two newspapers has probably been exaggerated. Le Petit Parisien's circulation had been growing steadily since 1888 while Le Petit JOWM~'S had re- mained stationary. Its outrageous behavior may have discredited Le Petit Journal and alienated a portion of its readers, but at most this accelerated, not created, a trend. Even before the Dreyfus Affair, Dupuy's organ was more sensational and less political, and thus had potentially more appeal to the mass clientele than Le Petit Journal. According to a secret police report dated May 8, 1903, Le Petit Parisien had emerged victorious in the circulation war. 20 One year later, following a highly successful contest in which readers tried to guess the number of wheat grains in a bottle, Dupuy's journal began to print under its title the claim that it had " the greatest circulation of all newspapers in the en- tire world. " The Annuaire 1909 esti- " For 1892 yc Annuaire 1892 advertising ruppkment p. 91. Dubuf. Lr Jowncrhe. p. 241. aarpts the figure of 5W. 000. For 1898 (DC Amaire 1898. ahrniaing ruppkmen8 p. 85. )'See for curnpk: Livok. Huroir, vol. 2. pp. 347. 351; Go- We@ Lr Joml: (k@nrs, rwhuion er rok dr la prnv prriodqw (Plrir: Ld RetviuuKIc du Liwt. 1934). p. 263: Chrki Ledre, Huroire de la prrssr (Pans: Librairie Arthcmc Fayard. 19%). p. 307; Cob. %real NewsW Archives. of rk FrefecIure of Polia, donkr' B. A. I 173. )I Qumburc. A iroyns la prrsc. p. 130. " Archivrs o/ik Pyeciurr, dwkr B. A. 1228. PP. " P. 45. report to thc plaeaurc a- Mhp. mated its sales at 1, 400, OOO per day while the more conservative study by A. de Chambure put this figure at 1, 362, 000 in 1912. 21 For Le Petit Journal, this proved to be more than a temporary setback. Following Marinoni's death in 1904 there was a period of internal strife. A police report dated May 28, 1909, maintained that along with Le Petit Parisien. two more recent converts to mass press journalism, Le Journal and Le Matin, had surpassed Le Petit Journal, and another, L'Echo de Paris, was threatening to do the same. 22 This decline eventually leveled off, and the five above named newspapers formed a consortium which dominated the mass market in France until the Second World War. An examination of the rise of the mass press in France would be incomplete unless an attempt was made to determine its influence beyond the mere quotation of circulation figures, however speculative this may be. Circulation figures represent only those copies sold, not copies read. By the turn of the century, La Petit Journal was advertising not only that it had a circulation of more than a million, but also that it had five million readers. Avenel maintained that this was not an unreasonable estimate. There was, of course, the common but unmeasurable practice of reading one's favorite newspaper in the local cabaret or cafe, but perhaps more importantly, Millaud, Girardin and Marinoni intended their product to be a family newspaper, and at least one long-time observer of the French press believed they had succeeded. Adolphe Cohn, a French-American writer and professor of literature at Columbia University, wrote in a series of articles devoted to the European press: Le Perit JOWM~ was carried to the home, and read by the father, mother and children, often even read by the children to the parents, who had grown up when public schools were still rather scarce in France. The influence of Le Petit JOU~M~ was from the start enormous. It introduced the newspaper in hundreds of homes where it had never Downloaded from jmq. sagepub. com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on March 10, 2015 98 JOURNALISM QUARTERLY penetrated, and its readers were soon numbered by millions. 2' Cohn credited Le Petit Journal with having a high percentage of women readers. The editors were careful to include items of interest to women, especially the serialized novels which " thrilled the kindly heart of every market woman, every female worker, every concierge's wife in France. "24 Cohn worked at a time when modern sampling methods of quantitative research were virtually unknown and thus his observations, like others noted below, cannot be accepted as unqualified evidence. But they do provide a basis for conjecture where little else is available. Masses Affected There can be little doubt that Le Petit Journal and Le Petit Parisien had their strongest impact on the lower socioeconomic classes of French society. Contemporaries associated these journals with the petty bourgeoisie, the urban working classes and the peasantry. Both newspapers appealed to interests associated with the petty bourgeoisie. They steadfastly upheld the sanctity of the existing social system, were staunch defenders of private property, and professed a popular concept of law and order. This is not to say that they were read exclusively by the petty bourgeoisie. Instead it is to suggest that mass circulation newspapers in France are too often identified with this class because they defended the interests associated with it. There are indications that the mass press enjoyed a popularity among many workers who, as individuals, preferred reading the sensationalist stones and what they presumed was unbiased straight reporting rather than a dull predictable socialist or anarchist party line. Certainly the newspapers of class struggle did not begin to approach the mass journals in terms of overall circulation. In claiming an average daily sale of 3O. OOO for the major Socialist organ L'HumanitP. its editor, Jean Jaurts, admitted that " thk is quite a small figure beside the enormous circulations of the great information pres~. ~S While circulation statistics do not differentiate the social class of the purchasers, contemporaries made frequent comments' about the popularity of the mass press among the workers. One noted that Le Petit Journal " is addressed to all classes and all societies, and makes strong appeals to the love of sensation of the lower French classes. It... has an immense influence with the laboring people. "26 In his study on advertising in France, Emile Mermet recommended Le Petit Journal to prospective advertisers who wished to appeal to the working class or the petty bourgeoisie. 2' The popularity of the mass press was not limited to the confines of Paris. To encourage circulation, Le Petit Journal and Le Petit Parisien published provincial editions and established local depots for quick distribution. 28 In bemoaning the influence of Le Petit Journal, a pro-Dreyfusard confessed that 'in the remoter departments it has done immense injury to the cause of Dreyfus. "29 While bringing their goods to market, peasants would purchase Le Petit Journal at the local kiosk. Henri Awnel, a long-time editor of the Annuaire, pictured Marinoni's journal as Yhe messenger. impatiently waited for in the villages and the countryside, carrying to the most humble hamlet news from the five parts of the world. "m The most important aspect of the mass press was the 'credibility that it enjoyed. I'Cohn. %mat Neplppcn of Europe, " p. 44. N Ibid. " L'HunrmlrL Oa. 5. 1906. p. I. %" What the Pcopk Read in Fnna. " 7'k American MonrNy kview of Reviews. 29338 (March 1904). " Finik Mcnnet. La Acblidf en Fmnre, Vol. 2 (Park A chix (t Cic. 1878). p. 35. " For an eumitmtion of thdr ddimy sy3tcms. re Dulkf. Le lwrmI&mr, pp. 207-8. Nmpp loaded by eight o'clock at ni~ht would rcrh outlying are- in the provinces by wen o'clock the folbwing morning. nH. G. de Blomtz. 7hc Frmch Pnn and the Drqfut (zr. " Narh Amfcm RNiw. 169586 (October Im), p. 586. 'Avcncl Hbr0b-r L la pm fiancaise, p. 826 The nun prus had a proponiocvlly mall number of newpapera taken by rukripcion. In 1878 when Lr klii Jod w~t averaging 5oo. Oa, copia per day. only 25, OOO taka by rubrcripfioa, rhc rrumindcr king purchd by the copy. Scc me 7lmcr d Loodon. Much l9. 187& p. 5. Downloaded from jmq. sagepub. com at Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan / Royal Institute of Technology on March 10, 2015 Rise of Mass Press in A major reason for this may have been the general naivete of its readers. In discussing the consequences of popular education among the lower classes, Carlton J. H. Hayes reflected that 'another result was long unperceived and is still debatable: the increase of gullibility as well as of enlightenment among the masses. Schools taught everybody to read and pay attention to what the teacher said. If one reads something with one's own eye, one was inclined to believe it. "'! The critic Paul Brulat advanced the same basic argument. He maintained that the readers of the better journals were more skeptical of what they read because they were better educated. But Le Petit Journal addressed itself to the humble and the small, to the naive, to the illiterate, to the people of the faubourges and the countryside, to all those whom the printed letter is the voice of the Gospel... The press to them has become an intellect on parchment where they can gorge themselves on the nonsense or infamies which arc contained in the articles... This is its crime: to abuse the situation by exploiting the ignorance and credibility of its readers. To lie, to slander, to propagate errors, this is very wicked in itself, but truly this becoma a crime when it do tcrmim the entire public opinion of a country rukd by universal suffrage... I2 It is interesting to note the lack of similar criticism prior to the Dreyfus Affair. Both Le Petit Journal and Le Petit Purisien had long been sneered at for their sensationalism and lack of literary merit. But it was only after the editors had plunged their organ into the abyss reserved for the unabashed journals of doctrine that Le Petit Journal was attacked for the influence it had over the lower classes. Both Le Petit Journal and Le Petit " Cullon J. H. Ham A Gmcrmh of MaurioLim 1871- IWO (New York H. rpn & b.. 1941). pp. 17%. II ha lkoiu L rHomne. May 27. 1898. p. 1. Y Cohn, Newpapen of Europe‘ p. 45. YRowLnd SUw 7hc New of lhc Day in Fn~b%. " Harpn'a WeeUy. W381 (Mmh 17, 1906). firiton J. H. Haya. Itom: A Nmbn of P~rriorr (New Yo&: Columbia Uninnity F+rus. 1930). p. 448, m~rked that Lr hit hdden wm oftea alkd 'k jourml da concing.." 19th Century France 99 Parisien took definite editorial positions on almost every subject they covered. But with the issue most likely to inflame passions, that of internal politics, these newspapers were more subtle than organs of the political press. Unlike the latter they did not turn every item of a political nature into a series of polemics: 'People say 'Why if Le Petit Journal itself launches into the fray, vital interests must be at stake; otherwise it would not bother us with p~litics! '" ~) Unlike the political press, most mass press reportage concerned topics, such as crime, that were largely descriptive, or at least politically impartial, and much of their coverage merely consisted of what was said or done. Contemporaries frequently mention Le Petit Jownol and Le Petit Pmisien as being the favorite newspapers of the concierges. One observer offered an explanation for this: the concierge could not afford to alienate any of his tenants if he expected his annual tip. These journals could be displayed in his lodging without fear of antagonizing anyone's political or religious temperment. Y The creation of the mass press allowed a learning experience of vast magnitude to occur as millions of Frenchmen read daily accounts of subjects that were often unknown to their preliterate fathers. On the other hand, because its major objective was to make money by attracting the largest possible readership, the mass press not only molded, but, more than other contemporary media, reflected public opinion, or at least its general dispaition. Measuring public opinion is one of the scholar's most inexact tasks, and the press has been frequently used as a major source. But at least for late 191h century France, this has focused on the more attractive elitist newspapers such as Le Temps and Le Journal des &! bats. The mass press was far from ignored by its contemporaries. At present, the analysis of its content matter offers the political, social, and especially the cultural historian a largely untapped wealth of materials.