Media and Mediation in the Eighteenth Century

While eighteenth-century print media in essence rested on the same technical apparatus as previous centuries – letterpress printing, woodcuts, and intaglio prints – the growth in quantity created a media revolution. The effect was a qualitative shift in terms of literacy, growth of newspapers, the spread of images, and distribution of knowledge, but also of misinformation and propaganda. In this volume eight scholars investigate various aspects of media and mediation in the history, culture, and politics of the eighteenth century

Northern Declarations of Freedom of the Press : The Relative Importance of Philosophical Ideas and of Local Politics

In recent works on the Enlightenment and the origin of modern Western thought, there is often a dichotomy between Moderate versus Radical Enlightenment. This essay evaluates the early experiences of freedom of print in Sweden and Denmark against the backdrop of such assertions. Sweden and Denmark were widely diverging polities but they obtained officially recognized freedom of the press at almost the same time. The conclusion is that by the second half of the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment, whether “Radical” or “Moderate,” had created a universal paradigm shift