1834 guide to Jersey - newspapers
1834 guide to Jersey:
Newspapers
Jersey had more newspapers per head of population than anywhere else in the United Kingdom, but they seemed to have little influence on the community
This is the chapter on newspapers from the Jersey volume of The Channel Islands (the result of a two year residence) by Henry David Inglis
There are not many communities so limited as Jersey among which there are so many public journals. And yet, I question if there be a community in any free country so little influenced by the public press.
Party politics
The reason of this is that the number of those who dare to think for themselves is extremely limited. With few exceptions the journals are the organs of one or other of the two parties; and so fearful are they of giving offence to the party which patronises them, that nothing like freedom of sentiment is ever found in their columns.
I at present allude more particularly to the French papers, for these, being chiefly read by the country people, are the only journals which under worth management, might exercise an influence over the public mind.
Without exception, these are the furious organis of party, and are conducted with apparently the sole view of pleasing certain partisans. The acrimony, invective and personal abuse which figure in their columns extremely surprise a stranger who has been accustomed to the more gentlemanly tone of the English press.
This certainly reflects no great credit upon the taste of the public, who are not only satisfied, but delighted with this manner of writing, and who, with few exceptions, look upon the most powerful and nervous writing as tame, if it be not seasoned with personality.
There is one excuse for this depraved appetite on the part of the public: it is that both in the legislative boty and in the courts of justice, an example is set.
The harangues in the States are too frequently a tissue of personalities, such as in no well regulated assembly would be for a moment endured. And even in Court, allusions are made to the judges on the bench, and a violence permitted, very unusual in such places.
Nothing, by the bye, can be a better illustration of the indifference of the natives of Jersey towards all that lies beyond their little world than the contents of the French local papers.
They are small sheets, like the smallest of the French papers, sold at 1½d; from one and a half to two of these small pages is filled with island news – the proceedings of the States, the pleadings in the Court, parish meetings and original articles, or lketters, upon local politics.
The most scanty space imaginable is made to suffice for the world at large. The most important debates in the British parliament are despatched in a paragraph; and the foreign intelligence of Europe is evidently a matter for very minor consideration.
As for British domestic intelligence, there is no department for it. I recollect observing that no mention was made in one of the most read journals of the death of the King of Spain, at that time, from many causes, an event of great political interest.
French papers
The names of the French papers are the Constitutionnel, the Chronique, the Impartial, the Gazette de Jrsey and the Journal de Commerce. The two first of these.of opposite parties, enjoy a large circulation, and all of them are conducted with a fair portion of talent, though unhappily made subservient to the narrow views of party.
There are also six English newspapers in Jersey, which are read by the educated calsses of the natives and, of course, also by the British residents. In these journals, whose contents are of the miscellaneous character which distinguishes the English newspapers, British and foreign intelligence and Jersey matters are about equally prominent. Some of these are, like their French contemporaries, devoted to party.
English papers
The names of these journals are the British Press, the Jersey Times, both published twice a week, the English and Foreign News and the Patriot.
The first of these, the oldest and most widely circulated, has been, during two years, unconnected with party, and is the boldest and most indiscriminating in its censure, particularly as regards the conduct of the present Lieut-Governor.
The Jersey Times is also a respectable and well conducted paper, and is considered to be particularly in the interest of the Lieut-Governor. The English and Foreign News and the Patroit are chiefly found in the hands of the lower classes, and compete successfully with their French contemporaries in the the virulence of their scurrility.
The influence of these journals also is limited; not so exclusively the slaves of party as the French papers, their influence on the public mind is perhaps somewhat greater. And in matters which concern the British residents, they are powerful engines.
In a recent attempt which was made in the States to tax for the benefit of the island the property of British residents, though situated out of Jersey, the strenuous opposition of the British Press and the exhibition of feeling manifested in consequence among the Englishn, compelled the proposer of the law to withdraw it.
Religious journals
Besides these journals there are two English newspapers addressed exclusively to the religious public – the Record and The Christian’s Friend, so that there are, altogether, no fewer than 11 newspapers published in Jersey.
Almost every grown-up person, man or woman, reads one or other of the Jersey newspapers. On Saturday morning, when three of the French papers are published, one is seen in every market person’s hand, or lying on almost every market stall. The fish woman, the fruit woman, the butter woman, has each her newspaper, and lays in, for another week, a stock of knowledge as to the affairs of Jersey.
The circulation of the island papers is very considerable. There being no stamps on the paper, their price is extremely low; and the absence of duty also on advertisements increases their number, and consequently gives to the newspaper another attraction.
I have counted in the British Press which is published twice a week, as many as 130 advertisements, and I have counted 140 in the Chronique. I scarcely think any district will be found in Britain containing a population of no more than 40,000 inhabitants, in which 11 newspapers are published.
