Read All About It! The News in the Eighteenth Century

In the eighth installment of Mr. B Speaks!, Mr. B dismisses newspapers as "scandal sheets."

This is a tad extreme. Although the celebrated Times would not make its appearance in London until the late 1700's, the eighteenth century was awash with newspapers of all sorts, including a stunning number of local/county newspapers.

These papers were read by people from a wide range of economic/social backgrounds for a wide range of purposes. As depicted in the below picture, even if only a few people in a community could read, others would supply the lack; even as late as 1870, Dickens would go hoarse reciting his celebrated A Christmas Carol to spellbound audiences (as Dr. Who lovingly and chillingly depicts in the episode "The Unquiet Dead"). Despite the occasional die-hard academic who insists that reading has always been an aspect of upper-class/intelligentsia behavior (whilst carefully and condescendingly shunting verbal storytelling into the so-called pure bubble of "folk culture"), the printed word has always impacted all classes, and all classes--since the beginning of time--have willingly spent a disproportionate amount of money on the pursuit of "media-sponsored" entertainment. (Using economic standard-of-living models to determine out how much people in the past spent on theater or concert tickets is an exercise in futility.)

Mr. B is correct, however, in that many eighteenth century newspapers, or scandal sheets, printed scurrilous, salacious, scandalous news based on rumor, innuendo, and raunchy details.

Yes, People magazine has always been with us.

Seriously, if you think political ads and editorials are bad now-a-days, take a look at the press, on both sides of the Atlantic, in the 1700s. Wow! Talk about libelous!!