“I am told … but I know not of a certainty”: The value of accuracy in the multimedia world of news in England 1658-1685
The title quotation from Samuel Pepys summarises the issues facing news consumers in seventeenth century England, when came to assessing the accuracy of the news and information they were receiving. The paper will explore both accuracy and newsgathering in English news sources between 1658 and 1685, through a multimedia lens. It will examine the interaction between genres of news, regarding newsgathering, production, transmission and consumption, and the impact that the different media had on the judgement of accuracy for both producers and consumers. Using four case studies, the transition from the Protectorate to the Restoration, the 1665 Plague, the Great Fire and the Restoration Crises of the late 1670s and early 1680s it will ask if the demand for and judgements about accuracy varied in different news environments and if different media played more important roles in different news events and at different times of the news cycle. It will highlight the continuing importance of the ‘old media’ - oral and manuscript news - when it came to assessing the accuracy of the new kid on the media block – periodical print. In conclusion, it will discuss the value of accuracy as a tool and as a commodity to both producers and consumers in the second half of the seventeenth century.
This is an in-person only session.
All welcome. This event is free but booking is required.
This page was last updated on 16 December 2024