Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis

The bankruptcy of the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique de Panama on the 4th of Februari 1889 was front-page news all over the civilised word. Some 80.000 shareholders were duped. The downfall of the enterpise that had failed to complete the canal across the Isthmus of Panama led to judicial inquiries and parliamentary investigations. An extensive criss-cross pattern of corruption was revealed. Leading journalists and politicians had been bribed by the company which was led by the aged Ferdinand the Lesseps - builder of the Suez Canal - and Gustave Eiffel - builder of the newly-opened Eiffel Tower - to present positive news about the progress of the project and to support laws that made it possible for the Compagnie Universelle to issue bond loans in combination with a lottery. The scandal gave birth to a vehement anti-Semitic campaign in 1892 which was aimed at two bankers who had acted as mediators: Baron de Reinach and Julius Herz. Hence the Panama scandal is often seen as a preliminary to the Dreyfus affair. In the article the scandal is seen in the light of anti-Semistism as a phenomena that is not specific to right-wing politicians and in the light of a political culture in which politics journalism and public opinion have a colour that is peculiar to the period under consideration

During the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902 the British Army as part of a campaign against Boer guerillas set up several concentration camps. Of the 115 000 people placed in the camps almost 28 000 died of which about 22 000 were children. Emily Hobhouse was the first to visit several camps and with the help of some journalists and politicians she exposed the appalling circumstances in the camps to the public. The scandal made a profound impression on people in Great Britain and abroad and helped to put the treatment of civilians during war time on the political agenda

In a succession of articles American newspapers and magazines revealed in early 1967 that for years the cia had been secretly funding several independent non-governmental organizations such as the National Student Association the American Federation of Labor and the Congress for Cultural Freedom (including its affiliated journals). Although there had been rumours and hard evidence about these funding activities since 1964 it wasn't until February 1967 that the issue evolved into a scandal resulting in injury to the integrity of major public intellectuals the downfall of the nsa and the ccf and a half-hearted effort by Lyndon Johnson's administration to increase its control of the cia. Crucial to this process were an increasingly polarized political climate and the emergence of a critical underground press. In this contribution it is also argued that this cia scandal incited the revival of America's tradition in investigative journalism which was to culminate in the disclosure of 'Watergate' in the early 1970s

The Aantjes affair was one of the most controversial scandals in postwar Dutch politics. The media hype was not only unleashed because of the shock effect of the ss but also because within just a few hours of television coverage it became clear to the Dutch public that a small circle of people had had vague knowledge of Aantjes' occupation history for decades. By taking a long-term perspective of the Aantjes affair this contribution explains how it was possible to keep this a secret from the media for such a long time. Subsequently the convergence of circumstances are reconstructed that led to Loe de Jong director of the National Institute for War Documentation as almost the only <i>opinion leader</i> speaking about the cda politician's war history on the evening of Monday 6 November 1978. He found himself in this position because the television company nos achieved a second national scoop in exchange for a full reference to the scoop by the regional paper <i>Nieuwsblad van het Noorden</i> as its source

This article discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal which concerned a love affair between the President of the United States and a 21 year old trainee Monica Lewinsky. The affair started in the summer of 1995 and became public knowledge in January 1998. At first it seemed that a real 'Lewinsky gate' was in the making but as it turned out - surprisingly for many - the public was not willing to participate in the kind of character assassination some of Clinton's mostly Republican political adversaries had in mind. 'Independent counsel' Kenneth Starr was seen to be less independent than he should have been and much more politically prejudiced. Although Clinton clearly lied under oath about the nature of his relationship with Lewinsky public opinion remained solidly opposed to impeachment. The author concludes that this scandal does not confirm James Lull and Stephen Hinerman's thesis that 'managers of modern news media actively try to turn stories into scandals.' If the media had lived up to the thesis Clinton certainly would have lost the presidency

Between the 1950s and the first decade of the twenty-first century journalistic culture changed dramatically in the Netherlands. Elements of the popular press were adopted and became dominant in media culture. One of the most important elements was the creation of scandals around public figures. This article is a case study of two affairs that demonstrate this growing adoption of popular media culture. In 1956 a conflict between Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard threatened to destabilize the Dutch monarchy. Faith healer Greet Hofmans who had an influence on Queen Juliana played an important role in this affair. However at this time the Dutch press culture was characterized by ignoring and respecting the Queen's private life. As a result no scandal was constructed of this affair even though the political implications of a separation (which was avoided ultimately through the cabinet's involvement) were huge. Publicity was restricted to the English and German media. In 2003 however a scandalous affair was created by Queen Beatrix's niece Margarita who gave exclusive information to a quality magazine making allegations that the royal household was spying on her private life. This scandal immediately exploded into a media hype in which every newspaper and broadcasting programme participated. The media hype was full of elements that used to be exclusively the domain of the popular press: emotions speculations dramatisation and invading private spheres. The political abuse that was revealed was of relatively minor importance in all publications to which a wide range of people of authority (politicians scientists commentators journalists) contributed. The period studied shows therefore that elements of the gossip press have become more widely acceptable in journalistic culture and that a political culture with a great interest in scandals concerning public figures has also become more widespread

Twee recente dissertaties doen onderzoek naar de aard werking en invloed van instituties op verschillende aspecten van de filmcultuur. Een mededeling vooraf aan geharnaste historici: bij de hier besproken dissertaties is in beide gevallen niet of nauwelijks sprake geweest van archiefonderzoek - toch zijn het boeiende en respectabele onderzoeken geworden. Marijke de Valck onderzoekt het ontstaan en de aard van het mondiale festivalcircuit. Ze begint met een ruwe schets van de historische ontwikkeling van het verschijnsel festival in Europa. Festivals begonnen aanvankelijk primair als een glamour gebeurtenis (Venetië vanaf 1932 Cannes vanaf 1947) en zijn gaandeweg een invloedrijke manier van filmvertonen geworden: reputaties en recettes worden hier gemaakt en gebroken. Een filmfestival fungeert tegenwoordig als podium voor het alternatief aanbod op de reguliere uitbreng in de bioscopen

De filmtijdschriften zijn in te zien in de bibliotheek van het Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdam de andere tijdschriften in de meeste universiteitsbibliotheken