Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-09-29
PARIS "FIGARO."
4 Sketch of the History of the Lead
 ing French Journal

l 4 Sketch of the History of the Lead
 ing French Journal.
 The old weekly Figaro, in which the | principal writers were Auguste NIllemCt, Edmond About, Theodore de NanvIlie. | Sarcey, Jules NOriac. SchOu, Henri 9s | Pene, Charles Monster, was a violent | literary pam D hlet, whose editors vsre | required Co -.hIie re rapier es .eitg as | the pen. On the other hand, ulI- ! aiming principally at sCludal1us | nOtOriety, De EIllemessant was the .ir man In France tO comprehend Q news paper as a newspaper; be apprecilt,i | che value of news rapidly, lf not surel- | obtained; but ar the same tune, Euowil | the nature of his pubic, so indifferent | to everything outside ot their CEl country, Dc NIllemessaut Used to ia- | down the principle that dog run over
 on the Boulevard des ItalIens interested the French reader far more than 50 regicIde committed at St. Petersburg
 or Berlin. It k, indeet, on this urln-
 ciple that most ParIsiau newspapers are
 stlll conducted. With these ideas, when
 the Figaro became a daily p0hticai
 paper, De Nillemessant still contrived Co
 make 1t, above all, newspaper within
 the limits of hIs ParisIan acceptatiOu c-
 that term. The principal writers Il ;',a
 Figaro before 1870 were Alberi NO
 Henri Rochefort, Adrien Marx. r. Mag
 nard, and Saint -Genest. With the s--
 cepti0n of ROchefort, all these gentle
 men are st.n the ornaments af tha
 Figaro. As for the writers Cf the old
 weekly Figaro, their names are ta b.
 found here and there m the ieadil
 journals of the present day, and "a fac.
 there is hardly prominent !ourUCl's..
 with exception of purely political writer.
 who has not at one time or another vrl-- ten for the Figaro and been an apprCu
 tIce under De NIllemessaut Moreover. SO completely does the Figaro. as deveI- oped by De NIllemessant, fulhli tie -e- quirsments of the French reader that
 all the great political Journals have been obliged to conform more or less to tho model of thelr vIvaCIOus contemporary. The Figaro consists Of four pages. eacu Of SIX columns, printed in long primer and bourgeois tyre, with plenty CT whites" and "leads" Sixteen or eighteen of the columns are de voted to reading matter and the rest to advertisements The first page starts of with political bulletin, CT chronique of two or three columns; then follows "EchOes of Par IS, or some equivalent tItle, containing personal notes, news items, and scciety or other notes and "puils.' After this come the "nOUvelles a Ia main three or four jokes, piquant anecdotes, or bon mots. This department IS to be found m the earliest French journals, even in the Mercure de France, during the most stirring days of the revolution of l1Sa. and it was brought to a high state of l. |. presse of the empire. After tLe funny follows a society article, TT which IS discussed the socIal topics of the day, the marriages, the funerals, the ietes of high fife and wOuld-bs high hfe. After these special and iuvariabe fen lures follow short articles on curreu events, parliamentary reports, cUttinrs from the French papers, and two or three insignificant items from the half-dOZen English and Ger man newspapers that compose the for 4Ign press in the eyes of the average French journalists; various local news. law reports, telegrams, and correspond snce, meager colum filed up by the -elegraphlc agencies: theatrical reports. lud news. sporting, and then on the asst column Of the third page, aud gel- srally on the whole of the fourth page. advertisements. Finally, oue-thirI CT he second page IS taken up by the iia- man feulletOn. Such, with slight mod hcatlons, Is the plan of the contents of inc majority of the daily political news papers that have yet appeared m France. In some papers political discUssiou gkes up the lions share Of the space on he first page; m others greater atreu- non Is given to less serious topics, but n all the main features, the chronique. he nodvelles a Ia main, the faits dive-=. he law reports, and the theatrical rec ,rd, the same model is universally fai- oved.-The Cornhill Magazine