The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1883-10-25
FRENCH JOURNALISM
The Successful French Journalist Be-
comes a Social Lion.
Every Article signed by Its Author
The Opportunity OF Individual
ity--Editors Who Are
DemI-
tE. ]. Biddlo in American Journalist

The difference in the work upon a Partisan
paper and one in Eng~lish-speaking lands is not
more marked than the effect upon the per-
sonal reputation and renown Of the writer.
There are men in this country who become
known, as did Horace Greeley, but it is safe
to say that the average intelligent American
could not give the names Of half a dozen
newspaper men outside his own city, and not
more than those of three or four Englishmen
connected with the press. b.
They know Labouchere because his capital
'r' is un-Euglish. They know delightful,
polished George Augustus Sala because,
while breakfasting in bed, journeying due
north, or Swimming the world with his dia'
mond-pointed stylus, he always tells us he
belongs TO the fraternity, and so he does, but
is about as like the average as the unharness.
able zebra is to the Flemish draught horse.
How many know what Jove hurls the thun-
derbolts of The FINEST In France all this is
different A paper is read for its editorial
alone. Every article is signed, even the tele-
grams must bear the name of the agent, and
he is promptly prosecuted if the news is false.
He must not have heard so-and-so. Hearsay
evidence will not do. The news must be true.
or not even limited at. The articles all bear
the names of the writers. Sometimes these
are assumed but their bearer must be known
to the paper and to the public.
For dra wings there is the same rule. In
deed, these MONS de plume are transparent
masks. Who in France did not know that
Cham, the great contributor to The Chair
vari. and whose death was mourned by the
world II year or two ago, was the Count lie
Noe, who took his name Cham, or as we
would say Ham, from being the son Of Moo
or Noah. Andree Gill, the bitter draughts-
man of La Lune Rouse, is NJ. de Guines, and
60 with all Az N rpia hOxynyar IL Ia nulv
the great man who wishes to speak to the
public through the press. who does not sign
his own name, and he is so well known, the
paper so well understood to be his organ,t that
all feel from whence the inspiration
flows. A successful newspaper man
is at once known. To be known
is to be courted. and instead Of the man
losing his identity in the power welded by
the paper, he himself, in his own person, is
sought after, caressed, a leader in the world
of fashion as well as of letters. No people ui
earth have so pronounced views on political
questions, and nowhere are shades OF sentl
ment so finely drawn as in France. The editor
who champions the views taken is fairly wor.
shipped-exalted to II demi-god, and his cnch
line and phrase becomes sacred TO his political
fellow-believers
With such rewards so promptly won, It is
not to be wondered at that great ability is
shown, and gradually the traveller finds that,
if not a newspaper, the French journal is a
very clever piece of work. When one says
French, one means Partisan. In the pro
vinces, the newspaper-which name l shall
use, because | know no better translation of
journal, and which name, as the thing con-
tains no news, must be taken in the Pick
wickian sense-the newspaper in either our
or the Partisan sense may be- said
.-t -, rnN,t --1
forceless are even those of the great cities
of Marseilles, Bordeaux or Lyons. They
have no influence of any kind. Paris is
France in many senses, in none more 50 than
in her press. Go into any coffee-house, from
the sea to the Alps, it is the Paris paper che
traveller sees, the Paris paper which the
native reads. England has her ably edited
Manchester Guardians, her Scotchman, and
her Mercuries to supplement the later re.
ceived daily from the metropolis. Frauce
has nothing hut her capital to look to.
The advertisement business OF the
Partisan newspaper press is entirely man.
aged by one company, and each paper
is paid by this company, in proportion tn cir.
c~ulation, for matter inserted. There are also
small advertisements, more or less of the per.
sonal kind, received at the office OF the paper
itself, and for it alone, but these are of littlo
value, and it is the subscriber, not the adver.
tiser, who is the man looked to To bring
money into the strong box.
The papers are sold. not by flying, bare.
footed urchins-indeed a bare foot or a rent
garment is DOT allowed by the police to
appear in the strcet-but pretty little kiosks,
like fanciful sentry-boxes, line the principal
streets, and the trade of selling the papers
from these is largely in tho hands of elderly
women. All Of the newspaper offices are more
places of resort than in America, but The
Figaro has a gorgeous dwelling place. with
reading rooms aud a museum. where all are
welcome. aud ~hsTe thousands ssern to Like u
go daily.
1t will be remarked that thu Paris news
papers contain anecdotes and stories which
could not he printed in any English or Ameri
can publication. 1t must, however, be- re-,
membered that while these are certainly no
worse than the shocking advertisements pub
lished in America, that in France no boy, no
young girl nor moderately young married
woman IA allowed TO read the newspaper.
Here they are everywhere in the hands of the
girl changing to ~womanhood, with their
personals" and the vile notices OF the quacks,
doing thus more harm than the more anus.
ing, more plainly told anecdote which. In
France, is only read by those old enough to
be used to self-goveruuent.
IN review IL may De SAID
that In Franco Journalism Is the
6eld Of personal renown, and the journalist
the brilliant social lion. In England, and
much more In America. the journalistic
writer is IA man who merges his individual ideD-
tity in the force and power Of the paper. In
France it is Mr.. So-and-So whom you read,
admire or condemn. Hero it is The Herald
ur The Times. The American Mr.. So-and-So
may die. and you, who have read his articles
for n quarter OF a century, do not know bis
name. Perhaps a Gambetta might be possible
here, or even a swash-buckling De Cassagnac,
with his singing pen and twenty duels, but
~faultless adherence to his political faith. A
Henri ltochefort, Vicomte de Lucay, the
wnll-born, well-dressed, MISUNDERSTANDING
leader Of the ~canaille, would bo an impossi.
bility, because his only claim to personal dis
junction has been his pen.