13 Feb Lecture MCH1036
Radical approaches -
− Argues the 4th estate is something of a myth
− Looks at issues of power, ownership, control and ideology
− Takes a particular interest in the rise and fall of the working-class radical press of the 19th
century (and its legacy)
− This radical press was, ironically, crushed by the rise of the respectable bourgeois newspapers
who styled themselves as ‘The Fourth Estate’
− Emergence of radical press was important development in 19th century journalism along with
popular press and consolidation of respectable press
Britain in the 19th century -
− Growth of towns and cities, new mass popular culture
− Included books, magazines, newspapers
− This interacted with the predominant oral culture
− Middle class reformers worried about the threat represented by the working class
First Wave of radical press -
− 1793–1819: Radical (unstamped) press informed by French Revolution and later Napoleonic
wars
− Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809) influenced early radical pamphleteers (such as Thomas Spence):
to write in labourer's language (just as Romantic poets used rustic language
− The Rights of Man (1791)
− The Age of Reason (1794)
− 1808: John and Leigh Hunt found The Examiner;
− For 50 years a leading voice for intellectual radicalism
− High-brow literary journalism (Keats and Byron wrote for it)
− Tried but failed to refuse advertising
− Not popular – no real engagement with working classes.
− William Cobbett: Twopenny Trash (1812-1817)
− 1815: Political Register (unstamped, 2d) sells 1,000 copies per week
− Other publishers follow suit; Thomas Wooler (Black Dwarf); Richard Carlile (The Republican)
Government passes the Six Acts in the aftermath of Peterloo Massacre 1819
• Training Prevention Act banned drilling for weapons
• Seizure of Arms Act gave magistrates power to search any private property for weapons
• Misdemeanours Act reduced bail and speeded up prosecution process
• Seditious Meetings Act required permission for public meetings of more than 50 people if the
subject of that meeting was concerned with "church or state" matters
• Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act created tougher sentences for the authors of such
writings
Radical approaches -
− Argues the 4th estate is something of a myth
− Looks at issues of power, ownership, control and ideology
− Takes a particular interest in the rise and fall of the working-class radical press of the 19th
century (and its legacy)
− This radical press was, ironically, crushed by the rise of the respectable bourgeois newspapers
who styled themselves as ‘The Fourth Estate’
− Emergence of radical press was important development in 19th century journalism along with
popular press and consolidation of respectable press
Britain in the 19th century -
− Growth of towns and cities, new mass popular culture
− Included books, magazines, newspapers
− This interacted with the predominant oral culture
− Middle class reformers worried about the threat represented by the working class
First Wave of radical press -
− 1793–1819: Radical (unstamped) press informed by French Revolution and later Napoleonic
wars
− Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809) influenced early radical pamphleteers (such as Thomas Spence):
to write in labourer's language (just as Romantic poets used rustic language
− The Rights of Man (1791)
− The Age of Reason (1794)
− 1808: John and Leigh Hunt found The Examiner;
− For 50 years a leading voice for intellectual radicalism
− High-brow literary journalism (Keats and Byron wrote for it)
− Tried but failed to refuse advertising
− Not popular – no real engagement with working classes.
− William Cobbett: Twopenny Trash (1812-1817)
− 1815: Political Register (unstamped, 2d) sells 1,000 copies per week
− Other publishers follow suit; Thomas Wooler (Black Dwarf); Richard Carlile (The Republican)
Government passes the Six Acts in the aftermath of Peterloo Massacre 1819
• Training Prevention Act banned drilling for weapons
• Seizure of Arms Act gave magistrates power to search any private property for weapons
• Misdemeanours Act reduced bail and speeded up prosecution process
• Seditious Meetings Act required permission for public meetings of more than 50 people if the
subject of that meeting was concerned with "church or state" matters
• Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act created tougher sentences for the authors of such
writings
