How should we read Balzac’s harsh critique of newspapers today?

[Julie07]

The press, once a calling, has become a mere instrument of parties; from an instrument, it has degenerated into a trade—and like all trades, it is without faith or law. Every newspaper is, as Blondet observes, a shop in which words are sold to the public in whatever hue it desires. Were there a journal for the hunchbacked, it would prove morning and evening the beauty, the virtue, and the necessity of hunchbacks. A newspaper is no longer made to enlighten, but to flatter opinion. Thus, in time, all journals will become cowardly, hypocritical, infamous, deceitful, murderous; they will kill ideas, systems, and men—and by that very means, they will prosper.


They will enjoy the peculiar privilege of all rational beings: evil will be done, yet no one will be held accountable. I shall be Vignon, you will be Lousteau, you Blondet, you Finot—Aristides, Platos, Catos, men of Plutarch; we shall all remain innocent, able to wash our hands of every infamy. Napoleon gave the reason for this moral—or immoral—phenomenon, as you prefer, in a sublime remark drawn from his reflections on the Convention: Collective crimes implicate no one. The press may indulge in the most atrocious conduct, and yet no individual will feel personally stained

Text written in 1837

[Zack-Bann]

When they taught me Balzac in school I thought to myself “who even cares about what some guy had to say 200 years ago”


But now I’m realizing the man predicted Reddit


And I agree with him: media is nothing but a convenient vessel for lies and deceit

[exitseven]

he was definitely ahead of his time. I used to get two newspapers. A local newspaper and a big city newspaper. After a while I only got one. Then I only got the Sunday paper, Finally I gave up on them.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO

[beefcakebradybatson]

Especially with media barons such as Rupert Murdoch buying and merging so many newspapers, meaning they aren't the voice of the voiceless, but often today mirror the dictates of their rich, often right-wing bosses.

[NathanDavis]

I just can't take seriously... someone named Ballsack...

[Abbycado]

Why would anyone care about 1837?

[Julie07]

I missed you

[Staximus]

Maybe I'll read some of his stuff