Abstract

MOLLIER, Jean-Yves. Money in the Belle Époque Press. Secuencia [online]. 2019, n.103, e1685.  Epub Jan 01, 2019. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i103.1685.

This article focuses on the role of money in the development of the French press during the Belle Époque, 1880-1910. When the sale of newspapers increased from 1 000 000 copies in 1870 to 3 000 000 in 1880 and from 9 000 000 to 10 000 000 in 1900 (in a country with fewer than 40 000 000 inhabitants), banks and large industrial companies played a major role in newspapers. Financial pages were rented to companies specializing in advertising while major companies attempted to use the press to drain public savings. Several scandals, involving Panama, copper and Russian loans, revealed the extent of corruption of journalists and press owners, together with no less corruption in parliament. The adviser to the Russian Finance Minister spoke rightly of “the abominable venality of the press,” which undermined democracy and demonstrated the ability of the media to manipulate public opinion.

Keywords : money; corruption; public opinion; press; scandals.

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