GIORNALISMO CATTOLICO RENTI

CATHOLIC JOURNALISM

They were part of this body, which was commonly called the “Catholic trust,” various newspapers of northern and southern Italy: Il Corriere d’Italia, founded in 1903 by Gaetano De Felice under the name Corriere di Roma; L’Avvenire d’Italia, then directed by Rocca d’Adria; L’Italia, directed by Paolo Mattei Gentili; Il Momento of Turin, directed by Angelo Mauri; Il Messaggero Toscano of Pisa, founded by Cardinal Maffi; Il Corriere di Sicilia of Palermo; the latter newspaper soon ceased publication following demonstrations of monarchist loyalty that were deemed excessive at the time.

The “trust” had its advantages and disadvantages; it standardized the editorial line of the affiliated newspapers and improved their services both internally and especially externally, sending to Paris Domenico Russo, the first Catholic journalist sent abroad for this purpose. However, it also significantly hindered their editorial operations by imposing a review that the Rome headquarters had to conduct, both of foreign correspondence and of the principal collaborations, as well as of the editorials by the various directors. While the unity of direction was ensured, in practice there existed only one central management, not always entrusted to competent and suitable individuals, with six local sub-managements. These drawbacks emerged from the “trust,” as some newspapers whose directors wished to maintain their independence were excluded, as were newspapers with an intransigent line. Indeed, these newspapers waged a bitter battle against the “modern” newspapers (a dangerous adjective at the time of the anti-Modernist campaign), and the conflict reached its peak when Pius X, in a letter to the Lombard episcopate in 1904, managed to gather “certain newspapers” under their line, among which it was not difficult to recognize those of the “trust.” The reproof then became explicit on 10 December of the following year, when the issue of the Acta Apologetica Sedis published a “notice” stating: “To remove the misunderstanding that certain newspapers are creating among the clergy and the faithful, it is declared that the Holy See does not recognize as conforming to the pontifical directives and to the norms of His Holiness’s letter to the Lombard episcopate, dated 1904, the following newspapers: L’Avvenire d’Italia, Il Corriere d’Italia, Il Corriere di Sicilia, L’Italia, Il Momento, and others of the same kind, whatever may be the intentions of some worthy persons who direct and support them.” The Congregation of Religious, interpreting the notice in the most restrictive manner, shortly thereafter declared that not only the subscription but also the reading of such newspapers was forbidden to religious without the authorization of their major superiors. This was a severe blow to the newspapers of the “trust,” which, however, continued to be printed, endeavoring to conform as closely as possible to the papal directives. The measure, however, distressed Pius X, who sent a final letter to Cardinal XX at Monsignor Falcini, Bishop of San Miniato, who had inquired about it; the cardinal’s reply, conveyed by Cardinal Gasparri, Secretary of State, stated: “The aforementioned notice did not have the character of a prohibition.” The newspapers of the “trust” regained new vigor, while those that persisted in clinging to forms of intransigence that were no longer in keeping with the times either perished or were dying out during the war of 1915–18. Yet even during the war, the defects of the editorial union outweighed its advantages, and the “trust” was dissolved in 1916; each newspaper resumed its autonomy.

During the war of 1915–18, the Catholic dailies effectively associated themselves with the movement to integrate Catholics into political life, which in 1919 led to the establishment of the Italian People’s Party. Almost all Catholic newspapers fully supported this, so much so that they suffered the backlash of the struggle that Fascism waged against the democratic parties and then against the press that did not fully submit to its directives. Some, such as L’Avvenire d’Italia and Il Corriere d’Italia, adhered to the National Centre (a political organization of Catholics that flanked Fascism); others perished, such as Il Messaggero Toscano and almost all the minor ones; others continued in their line of Catholic journalism, such as L’Italia. The year 1929 dealt a severe blow to Catholic journalism: Il Momento and Il Corriere d’Italia disappeared, chiefly because the political current to which they adhered had little resonance among the Italian Catholic laity, and L’Unità Cattolica, which in a certain sense had concluded its historical cycle with the Conciliation between the State and the Church. Those that remained were L’Evento d’Italia, taken over by the Society of St Paul, which renewed it; L’Italia; Il Nuovo Cittadino, which in 1930 succeeded Il Cittadino of Ernesto Calligari; and a few with purely diocesan character. In 1931, L’Avvenire d’Italia established a Rome office to print its own almost autonomous edition; from this edition there arose, through the initiative of Augusto Ciriaci, president general of Catholic Action, L’Avvenire di Roma.

During the remaining Fascist period, these few dailies remained the only ones in Italy to represent a press that was not entirely compliant with Fascist directives and sometimes—such as in the 1931 conflict between Catholic Action and Fascism—openly in contrast. In the period of occupation following the armistice of 1943, almost all temporarily ceased publication either because they were unable to continue due to the destruction of their facilities caused by the war (as with L’Avvenire d’Italia) or voluntarily to avoid submitting to the impositions of the Italian Social Republic and the German occupiers (as with L’Italia, which temporarily became a weekly). In the final Fascist period and until the liberation, L’Evento Romano—whose authority and circulation had steadily grown under the direction of Count Giuseppe Dalla Torre, especially through its polemical campaigns against Nazism and against Fascist oppression—remained in fact the sole representative of Catholic journalism in Italy.

In France, after various unsuccessful attempts, one of which dates back to 1868, L'ami de la religion was founded in 1814, which, under the impetus of Monsignor Dupanloup, was transformed in 1849 from a tri-weekly to a daily newspaper, freed from political influences and of distinctly Catholic inspiration. The anticlerical revolution of 1830 gave rise to one of the most well-known French dailies: L'avenir (1830–31), which bore the motto «Dieu et la liberté» and had as its editors Lamennais, Lacordaire, and Montalembert; it was the first daily newspaper dedicated to religious thought, not without social overtones. Written with the same wealth of resources as the other great dailies of the time and by true journalists, it seemed destined for a brilliant future; instead, it ran into doctrinal assertions that were disavowed by Rome. The journalists suspended publication and left for Rome, «pilgrims of God and of freedom,» to seek papal directives; these were issued, but they took the form of the condemnatory encyclical Mirari vos (August 1832). The newspaper never resumed publication; some provincial organs, born in the same milieu, continued its ideas while more prudently adhering to the orthodox line. From one of these minor organs, at the instigation of Abbé Migne (the future editor of the Patrologia), arose L'univers religieux, politique, philosophique et littéraire (1833–1907), which immediately enjoyed renewed wide circulation, which increased further when Luigi Veuillot became its director in 1842. Some of the finest pages of 19th-century French literature and some of the most heated controversies of the same century remain linked to the names of Veuillot and L'univers.

With the revolution of 1848, all positions changed once again; Catholicism had become popular again, and many newspapers drew inspiration from it, even in judging political events. However, from this point onward, Catholics were divided for several decades by the institutional question, and the press reflected this division. While L'univers aligned with the Republic but in a conservative sense, it was opposed by L'ère nouvelle (1849), a monarchist newspaper founded by Abbé Maret and Ozanam and initially edited by Lacordaire. Under Napoleon III, the press was strictly monitored, and in 1860 L'univers was suppressed; it had initially supported Napoleon but later opposed him. The newspaper resumed publication in 1867, and in the meantime, its publisher had replaced it with Le monde (1860–96), edited by Eugène Coquillet, one of the finest pens in French journalism.

In the same year of L'univers’s rebirth, Monsignor Dupanloup, the Viscount de Melun, and Auguste Cochin succeeded in merging several small organs into a new large daily, Le français, of a rather moderate and liberal character. The republican revival of 1870 divided Catholics once more, who under Napoleon had been somewhat united against him, into republicans and monarchists of various tendencies: thus, L'univers and Le monde supported the Count of Chambord, while other Catholics, with Édouard Hervé, supported the Count of Paris, first in Le journal de Paris and then in Le soleil (1873–1914), the first French newspaper sold for five centimes. Others supported the Bonapartes with Paul de Cassagnac, who founded L'autorité, which also ceased publication in 1914. At the same time, Le Figaro defended Catholic interests with such zeal that it even provoked protests from Luigi Veuillot. Among all these newspapers, Le français stood out for not conflating the defense of Catholic interests with those of any dynasty; it had such broad vision that it could be compared in influence to Le journal des débats, but it later became mired in the actions of the Duke of Broglie’s Conservative Party and declined. At this point, Monsignor Dupanloup raised the necessary capital in three years to found another newspaper, La défense sociale et religieuse (1876–85); despite the excellent intention of uniting Catholics along a single line of religious defense, the writers’ pens did not live up to the task, and the newspaper, after an initial period of prosperity, declined along with Le français, after the détente it had helped bring about.

Meanwhile, La Croix had emerged from the transformation of a small review of the same name, and today it stands as the great religious newspaper for French Catholics.

Within about twenty years, the vast majority of Catholic newspapers in the provinces—Le bien publique of Dijon, L'express of Lyon, La liberté catholique of Toulouse, and others—abandoned their monarchist line entirely and, accepting the new directives of the encyclical to the French, dedicated themselves to defending Catholic interests. L'univers, after absorbing Le monde and various vicissitudes involving the sons and grandsons of the great Veuillot, disappeared, poorly replaced by La libre parole (1892–1924), and then by Le peuple français (1893–1910).

In the two decades between the world wars, Catholics divided their sympathies between newspapers that were distinctly Catholic, such as La Croix, with its numerous provincial editions and the mass of various kinds of reviews published by La bonne presse, and newspapers like L'éclair, La liberté, Le Figaro, Le Gaulois, L'écho de Paris—all respectful of Catholic thought—and L'ami du peuple, distinguished in its struggle against communism, as well as other local publications. After La démocratie by Marc Sangnier, the newspaper that best prepared the way for new times was L'ambre (1932) by Francesco Gay and Gastone Tessier, a newspaper of pure Christian and patriotic spirit, as well as democratic and syndicalist. Before 1940, there were 56 Catholic dailies in France, all with local circulation (except for La Croix in Paris), grouped into some «trusts» with a vast Catholic organization for distribution; but in general, French Catholic journalism, with the exception of some temporary exceptions, never succeeded with its dailies in exerting the same influence on society as it did with its art of profound monthly reviews.

In Austria, the first Catholic daily was Das Vaterland (1860–1912); others of a regional character then emerged, totaling 12 by 1935. The entire complex drew inspiration from the Christian social movement led by Baron Karl von Vogelsang, founder of Der Piusverein for social works and of the Pressverein for journalism. In 1894, Die Reichspost was founded; well-edited, it took first place among Catholic newspapers and a notable place in the Austrian press in general. Its most famous editor was the state councilor Friedrich Funder, under whose direction the newspaper gained great importance even in the political sphere. A characteristic newspaper was Das kleine Volksblatt, a highly illustrated popular organ. The widely circulated Catholic weekly Tiroler Volksbote, founded in 1898 in Innsbruck, was suppressed by the Nazis and revived after liberation (1945) under the title Der Volksbote.

In Belgium, Catholic newspapers existed even before 1830, the year of its establishment as an independent state; the oldest newspaper in Belgium, Le courrier de l'Escaut, is a Catholic daily. But the first major religious and political newspaper was La gazette de Liège (1846), edited by a dynasty of journalists, the Demarteau family. After 1860, Catholic journalism received greater impetus: in 1884, Le patriote was founded, and after Rerum novarum, L'avenir social by Carton de Wiart. The greatest importance, however, was held by La libre Belgique, the newspaper most beloved by Belgian Catholics, which continued to appear clandestinely even during the German occupation of 1914–1918. The marked regionalism and linguistic differences meant that Belgium always had numerous local newspapers; about half of the circulation of the entire Belgian press is accounted for by Catholic dailies.

In Czechoslovakia, before the Second World War there were six Catholic daily newspapers in Bohemia and Slovakia, and one in Subcarpathian Ruthenia; in addition, the Polish and German minorities each had one. The most important were Lidové Listy in Prague, Die deutsche Presse, also in Prague, and Slovak in Bratislava.

In Germany, Catholics had their first newspaper in 1860, Die kölnischen Blätter of Cologne, which later became Die kölnische Volkszeitung; this was followed by many other local newspapers grouped into two “trusts”: Der Zeno Konzern in Münster, which controlled 28 newspapers in northwestern Germany, and Die Verbo in Friedrichshafen, which controlled 19 in northern Bavaria. In 1870, simultaneously with the Prussian Zentrumspartei, the major German religious-political newspaper, Die Germania, was founded; it fought for the same goals as the “Center”: to protect the freedom of the Church and of denominational schools, and to secure Catholics their freedom regardless of the will of a parliamentary majority. When the Nazi regime attacked and then suppressed Catholic journalism in the Reich, there were 61 daily newspapers, about twenty of which had circulations exceeding 20,000 copies; the Augustinus Verein managed their distribution and development.

In England there were no Catholic daily newspapers, due to the peculiar conception of the press there. In that country, a newspaper is inconceivable without a political coloration; but since Catholics do not have their own party—because they serve indifferently in any of the three traditional parties (Conservative, Liberal, and Labour), none of which is anticlerical—they have no daily newspapers of their own, only a few weeklies, which, however, are well produced and widely circulated.

In the Netherlands, on the other hand, despite the fact that Catholics make up only half the population, Catholic journalism is extremely widespread and accounts for half of the total press. Before the war, around the Maasbode (1878) of Rotterdam—a large, well-produced, and widely circulated newspaper—and the Tijd (1848), there were as many as thirty local daily newspapers.

In Poland, before the Second World War there were as many as 53 Catholic daily newspapers, of which only the Kurier Warszawski was truly significant; there was also a school of Catholic journalism and a Catholic news agency.

Spain was once rich in newspapers and still has one of the oldest, El diario de Barcelona, a Catholic paper founded in 1792; but in general Spanish newspapers have in the past been lively, with low circulations and short lives. Among the oldest worth recalling are El católico (1840–70) and La España (1848–1868); among those still published are El siglo futuro (1875), El correo catalán (1875), and La voz de Valencia (1892). At the beginning of the century the most important newspapers were founded and continue to be published: La gaceta del Norte (1901) in Bilbao, El noticiero de Zaragoza (1900), El debate in Madrid with its affiliated newspapers in various provinces, and ABC in Madrid. El debate has a flourishing school of Catholic journalism, the only one in all of Spain.

In Switzerland, the press struggled to secure for Catholics the place due them in a non-Catholic state. Between 1830 and 1870, Catholic newspapers took up this task: Das Vaterland (still published) in Lucerne, founded in 1833 as Die Luzerner Zeitung; La voix catholique (1847); La gazette de Fribourg (1849); and L’ami du peuple (1864). After 1870, under the impetus of Mermillod (later a cardinal), all Catholic activities in Switzerland received new momentum, including the press. The major Swiss newspapers still in existence today were founded then: La Liberté (1871) in Fribourg; Die Ostschweiz (1873); Le courrier de Genève; Il giornale del popolo in Lugano; Die neue Zürcher Nachrichten; and ten other local newspapers.

In Luxembourg, the larger of the two daily newspapers, Das Iwwemburger Wort (1848), is Catholic. In Portugal, Catholics have Novidades and three other daily newspapers. Ireland has no Catholic daily newspapers, but the principal daily, The Irish Independent, is run by Catholics.

The European countries now under Soviet domination once had their own religious and political organs: Hungary had the widely circulated Nemzeti Ujság (1921) of Budapest and various other daily newspapers created and supported by the “Pazmany” organization for Catholic writers and journalists; Lithuania had Ryta; in Yugoslavia, Catholic journalism was Croatian or Slovene. The Croats, after various vicissitudes, preserved Hrvatska Strana (originally Riječke Novine in Fiume in 1911, transferred to Zagreb in 1914); the Slovenes had Slovene, founded in 1873, and Slovenski dom, founded in 1936.

In the Americas, the United States has never had any Catholic daily newspapers other than a small local paper, The Catholic Daily Tribune of Dubuque, Iowa, and a few newspapers for non-English-speaking immigrants. However, there are very many periodicals, which were greatly promoted by the Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884); even more effective was the establishment in 1919 of the N.C.W.C. News Service, which supplies Catholic news to a large number of American and European periodicals.

Canada had its first Catholic daily in 1882, L’étendard in Trois-Rivières; later came the current French-language Catholic dailies: L’action catholique (1907) in Quebec, Le devoir (1910) in Montreal, and Le droit (1913) in Ottawa.

In Argentina, after the nineteenth-century newspapers that actively defended the faith, El pueblo (1900) arose and is now the largest Catholic daily in all of the Americas.

In the other Latin American republics, Catholic daily newspapers of no great importance are published in Venezuela (La religión, Columna, and Diario católico), Ecuador (El Debate), Bolivia (Alas), and Nicaragua (Diario nicaragüense).

In the Arab states, the few daily newspapers published are all in Catholic hands, though they are not strictly Catholic organs. Before the war, China had the Yi-Shih-Pao in Tientsin; India had The Catholic Herald; and the Belgian Congo had the Courier d’Afrique in Leopoldville.

III. MODERN CATHOLIC JOURNALISM

In the democratic countries, there is a noticeable shift of the press toward the political and social currents known as “left-wing.”

In Italy, almost all newspapers from the Fascist period have resumed publication with only minor changes of title and, naturally, with a changed spirit. The Catholic dailies are among the very few that have not had to change their titles.

They had not compromised themselves—or only minimally—with Fascism, nor with that of the “Social Republic.” There are eight of them, besides *L’Osservatore Romano* (director Giuseppe Dalla Torre), which continued to be printed in the city of the Vatican and, during the war, published the bulletins of both sides for the impartiality of the Holy See, suspending publication altogether from 10 June 1940 (Italy’s entry into the war) until 6 June 1944 (the entry of the Allies into Rome). In Rome the daily *Il Quotidiano* (director Federico Alessandrini) is published, derived from *L’Avvenire*, which changed its title of its own accord; in Bologna *L’Avvenire d’Italia* (director Raimondo Manzini); in Milan *L’Italia* (director mons. Ernesto Pisoni); in Genoa *Il Nuovo Cittadino* (director don Eugenio Badino); in Como *L’Ordine* (director don Giuseppe Brusadelli); in Bergamo *L’Eco di Bergamo* (director don Andrea Spada); in Trento *Il Popolo Trentino* (director Flaminio Piccoli); in Cagliari *Il Quotidiano Sardo* (director Mariano Pinius). Unlike what happened with the Italian Popular Party, to which Catholic dailies adhered by accepting party discipline, these papers have remained independent of Christian Democracy even while supporting its work; instead, they have accepted their connection with the central organs of Catholic Action while preserving their own editorial and administrative autonomy. For the Rome service (political and religious) they have set up a single office. Christian Democracy has its own organs, written by Catholic journalists who naturally accept the discipline of the political party in full while spreading and defending Christian thought.

In France the war brought even deeper upheavals, and few papers have kept their mastheads; among them *La Croix*, which has resumed its role as the flagship of Catholic journalism, and *L’Aube*, which has become the organ of the M.R.P. Other dailies not expressly Catholic are nevertheless widely read by Catholics, such as *Le Figaro*, to which François Mauriac contributes.

In Germany a great many dailies are printed in the two republics, but only one is Catholic: *Das Augsburger Tagesblatt* (1948).

In Belgium a new Catholic daily has been added to those that existed before the war: *Le Métropole* of Antwerp, a small paper that has grown greatly in circulation.

In the Netherlands, too, a new paper has been added to *De Tijd* and *De Maasbode*: *De Volkskrant* of Amsterdam.

**International bodies.** The organs of liaison in journalism are the news agencies for newspapers and the associations for journalists. Catholics have not neglected these two sectors. Before the Second World War there were three Catholic news agencies, the most important of which were the N.C.W.C. News Service and *Fides*; the first, an emanation of the Catholic episcopate of the United States “to promote, develop and assist the Catholic press in the United States,” has steadily grown in influence and distributes thousands of publications throughout the world in millions of copies, as well as news, services, articles, photographs, etc.; *Fides*, an emanation of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, issues to the Catholic press bulletins in several languages containing wide missionary news; the Congregation for the Eastern Church has set up its own agency, the “Servizio Informazioni Chiesa Orientale” (SICO), which issues news about both Catholic and dissident Eastern Christianities. An international news organization for the press is the “Centro Informazioni Pro Deo” (CIP), which has links with various parts of the world and issues Catholic and other news according to its own ideological criteria.

The international Catholic organization of journalists is threefold. In 1927 in Paris, at the instigation of Renato Delforge, director of *Vers l’Avenir* of Namur, the “Bureau International des Journalistes Catholiques” was founded, now become the “Fédération Internationale,” as a link between similar national bodies for the defence of common interests. In 1928, on the occasion of the Catholic Press Exhibition in Cologne, at the initiative of Giulio Stocky, director of *Die Kölnische Volkszeitung*, the “Commission Permanente des Éditeurs et Directeurs des Journaux Catholiques” was set up to promote cooperation between newspapers and agencies; in 1930 in Brussels, on the occasion of the first World Congress of Catholic Journalism, the third body was established to link the other two without impairing their autonomy: the “Union Internationale de la Presse Catholique,” a federation grouping bodies and individuals; its statutes were approved in Rome in 1936 at the second International Congress of Catholic Journalists. This Congress was of particular importance because it was held during the Universal Catholic Press Exhibition, called by Pius XI in the Vatican to mark the 75th anniversary of *L’Osservatore Romano*; the Catholic press of the whole world took part in the exhibition and the various meetings and congresses held there, except for that of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Among the international bodies the most efficient and continuous was the secretariat of the “Commission Permanente,” directed by the Dutchman Enrico Hoeben, who through *De Katholieke Wereldpost* of Breda exercised wide influence on the press of all countries, especially in the struggle against National Socialism and Communism; during the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 the Breda headquarters was seized by the Germans and Dr. Hoeben was interned as a reprisal; he died in a concentration camp on 28 February 1942. After the war relations between all these bodies were resumed at the third International Congress of Catholic Journalism, held in Rome (16–19 February 1950) during the Holy Year; journalists from 32 countries took part. The three fundamental bodies were reconstituted, and in addition a permanent secretariat and a Union of News Agencies were set up. The presidency of the International Union of Catholic Journalism was confirmed in Count G. Dalla Torre. In almost every country there are national associations of Catholic journalists; in Italy, after various attempts that came to nothing, in 1940 a “Pious Union” was set up (since during Fascism professional associations could not be formed except as single unions), which operated actively until 1943, i.e. until the death of its founder, Mario Luzzi. In 1950 the Association of Italian Catholic Journalists was finally set up, affiliated to Catholic Action through the Graduates’ Movement. Schools of journalism exist in various Catholic universities; Rome has a flourishing one: the International University “Pro Deo.”

**IV. JOURNALISTIC TECHNIQUE AND PROFESSIONAL MORALITY.** — The fundamental code of professional morality for journalists remains that passage in the encyclical *Rerum omnium* (26 January 1923: AAS, 5 [1923], p. 49), in which Pius XI declared St Francis de Sales patron of “all those Catholics who, by the publication of newspapers or other writings, illustrate, promote and defend Christian doctrine.” That passage, which dispenses from every commentary, says: “Above all, let them study with the greatest diligence and strive, as far as they can, to possess Catholic doctrine; let them beware of failing in the truth, nor, under colour of avoiding offence to adversaries, let them hide or soften it; let them take care of the very form and elegance of their style, and strive to express their thoughts with clarity and the adornment of words, so that readers may delight in the truth; and if it be necessary to refute adversaries, let them know how to confute errors and resist the improprieties of the wicked, but in such a way as to make it clear that they are animated by rectitude and

“all moved by charity.” These concepts, further developed by the same Pontiff in his address to Catholic journalists on 27 June 1929 and by Cardinal Gasparri in his letter to Count Dalla Torre, president of the Association of Catholic Writers and Journalists “San Francesco di Sales” (4 February 1925), may be summed up as follows: the Church regards the profession of the Catholic journalist as a noble one, almost a mission.

It is certain that today’s journalist needs to be recalled to the foundations of Christian morality, while freedom of the press, conceived in an ever-wider sense, loosens the reins that few and inadequate laws impose, and the very speed of the production cycle allows barely enough time for observation. The duration of the production cycle for a four- or six-page newspaper edition (as is the case with most newspapers in Italy, France, and various smaller countries, whereas in America newspapers are made up of several sections, each with numerous pages) can range from four to six hours, depending on the type of newspaper, the richness of its resources, and the number of editors at its disposal. Today’s journalist would not be what he is if he could not rely on vast and rapid information, the veracity of which is not always easy to verify and is often impossible to check, nor on a technical and industrial apparatus that has reached a high degree of perfection and thus tends to dominate the journalist’s intellectual work. News agencies, which are the main source of news, flood newspaper offices every day—especially every night—with an enormous quantity of news and information, of which each newspaper uses about a third. The news bulletins supplied by these agencies must be processed by newspaper editors together with the information received from their own reporters and correspondents, then sent to the printing house after a quick review by the department heads (home news, foreign news, parliamentary news, crime, religion, sports, finance, etc., depending on the newspaper) and set in lead type; the flat pages of mechanical composition are then reproduced stereoscopically in single-block semicylindrical pages and placed on the cylinders of the rotary presses. These extremely fast and precise presses can turn out tens of thousands of copies per hour. It is understandable that this work, compressed into a short space of time and driven by competition, is not always checked as it should be or carried out with the necessary caution. Nevertheless, in every country precise legal provisions curb abuses of press and information freedom, which, however, can have no first control or limit other than the journalist’s own conscience.

Vedi tav. XXXV.