ABSTRACT

Despite much recent work on the British newspaper press there is still much ground to be explored about the political activities of regional journalists in their local areas – as opposed to their metropolitan counterparts. This article examines the five radical newspapers published in three midlands towns in the early 1790s. While examining the journalists’ stance on the key national issues of the day the article also places their newspapers in the context of their towns’ internal political rivalries. The newspapers all faced opposition: loyalist associations sought to entrap their conductors, the government supplied rival newspapers with political material to counter them, the Post Office disrupted their delivery, and local advertisers boycotted their columns. Most importantly, nearly all the journalists faced prosecution, and two of them went to prison. Finally, the article summarizes the collapse of the midlands radical press and its revival after 1808.

摘要

尽管英国报纸媒体最近进行了大量工作，但与当地大都市新闻工作者相比，地方新闻工作者在当地的政治活动仍有很多探索的余地。本文考察了1790年代初在三个中部城镇发布的五种激进报纸。在考察记者在当今主要国家问题上的立场时，文章还将其报纸置于其城镇内部政治竞争的背景下。报纸全都遭到反对：忠实的社团试图诱捕他们的指挥，政府向竞争对手的报纸提供政治材料以对付他们，邮局破坏了报纸的寄送，当地广告商抵制了他们的专栏。最重要的是，几乎所有新闻工作者都面临起诉，其中两个入狱。最后，文章总结了中部地区激进媒体的崩溃及其在1808年之后的复兴。