25 - De la nature à l’écologie
Send
Print
Thomas Le Roux
Mediatisation, industry and urban environment: emergence and stifling of public debates, 1770-1810
Le Temps des médias n° 25, Automne 2015, p. 34-51.
>> Acheter cet article sur CAIRN
In the late eighteenth century, the relationship between industry and the urban environment was fiercely discussed in the public sphere. Specialised journals as well as the first newspaper in France, the Journal de Paris, provided their readers with a lot of information on the presence of factories in cities, and called for debates, particularly with respect to their nuisance. Meanwhile, the government tried to use new media to win the support of public opinion on its action in favour of public health. However, the French Revolution stopped this first moment of mediatisation. After 1800, under pressure from numerous complaints arising against harmful industries, the administration managed to confine the issue to its purely administrative sphere. After showing the emergence of the debate, this paper explains the concealment of the issue in the public sphere.