''La Gazette'' (), originally ''Gazette de France'', was the first weekly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

published in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It was founded by

Théophraste Renaudot Théophraste Renaudot (; December 158625 October 1653) was a French physician, philanthropist, and journalist. Born in Loudun, Renaudot received a doctorate of medicine from the University of Montpellier in 1606. He returned to Loudon where he m ...

and published its first edition on 30 May 1631. It progressively became the mouthpiece of one royalist faction, the

Legitimists The Legitimists (french: Légitimistes) are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They re ...

Pascal Ory Pascal Ory (born 31 July 1948) is a French historian. A student of René Rémond, he specialises in cultural and political history and has written on Fascism ever since his master's dissertation on the Greenshirts of Henri Dorgères. In the 1 ...

, "La nouvelle droite fin de siècle" in ''Nouvelle histoire des idées politiques'' (dir. P. Ory), Hachette Pluriel 1987, pp.457-465 With the rise of modern

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and ...

and specialized and localized newspapers throughout the country in the early 20th century, ''La Gazette'' was finally discontinued in 1915.

During the Ancien Régime

Before the advent of the printed ''Gazette'', reports on current events usually circulated as hand-written papers (''nouvelles à la main''). ''La Gazette'' quickly became the center of France for the dissemination of news, and thus an excellent means for controlling the flow of information in a highly centralized state.

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

and

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...

were frequent contributors, and until the revolution the magazine was frequently read by the nobility and aristocracy. Among the early members of the committee supervising ''La Gazette'' were

Pierre d'Hozier Pierre d'Hozier, seigneur de la Garde (July 10, 1592 – December 1, 1660), was a French genealogist. Life He was born in Marseille. He belonged to the household of the Marshal de Créqui and gave him aid in his genealogical investigations. In 1 ...

Vincent Voiture Vincent Voiture (24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him ...

Guillaume Bautru Guillaume Bautru, comte de Serrant (1588, Angers – 7 March 1665, Paris) was a French satirical poet, court favourite and a protégé and diplomatic agent of cardinal Richelieu. Biography He was lord of Louvaines, conseiller d'État under ...

, and Gauthier de Costes. ''La Gazette'' had for objective to inform its readers on events from the

noble court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

and abroad. It was mostly focused on political and diplomatic affairs. In 1762, its name became ''Gazette de France'', with the sub title ''Organe officiel du Government royal'' (Official organ of the royal Government). The magazine was always one of the most expensive in Paris. In 1787, Charles-Joseph Panckouke already proprietary of the ''

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published ...

'' and the ''Moniteur universel''—which he had just founded—rented the magazine.

During the Revolution

''La Gazette'' remained silent about the birth of the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, and didn't even mention the

storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille (french: Prise de la Bastille ) occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents stormed and seized control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. At ...

on 14 July 1789, limiting itself to government acts. For the satisfaction of his customers, Charles-Joseph Panckouke published a supplement, ''Le Gazettin'' (little Gazette), that gave its readers summaries of debates at the National Constituent Assembly. In 1791, the ministry of foreign affairs, who owned ''La Gazette'', took it back. Nicolas Fallet was named director and it became a

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...

for the Girondists. He was succeeded by Sébastien Roch Nicolas Chamfort. ''La Gazette'' became a daily magazine in 1792, 1 May. Following the execution of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

in 1793, 21 January, it was renamed ''Gazette nationale de France'' (National Gazette of France) The tone of its articles remained both very prudent and impartial.

References

Bibliography

* Jean Tulard, Jean-François Fayard, Alfred Fierro, ''Histoire et dictionnaire de la Révolution française 1789-1799'', Éditions Robert Laffont, collection ''Bouquins'', Paris, 1987.

External links

''La Gazette'' issues
in Gallica, the digital library of the BnF {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazette 1631 establishments in France 1915 disestablishments in France Political history of the Ancien Régime Arts and culture in the Ancien Régime Newspapers of the French Revolution French Third Republic Publications established in 1631 Publications disestablished in 1915 Defunct newspapers published in France

During the Ancien Régime

During the Revolution

See also

References

Bibliography

External links