Le boxeur Georges Carpentier dans la presse franco-britannique de la Belle Époque

FR. A la veille de la Grande Guerre la boxe anglaise a pris, dans les sociétés anglo-saxonnes (États-Unis, Grande-Bretagne et Australie) et depuis peu en France, une dimension sociale et culturelle d’importance. Dans l’Hexagone alors qu’elle était au tournant du XIXème siècle une mise en scène illégale et inconnue du grand public, elle a connu en 10 ans une fulgurante ascension. Aussi, En 1914, elle est devenue sport roi non seulement à Paris mais également en province. Ce que l’on peut appeler « la Belle Époque de la boxe anglaise en France » est marqué par une corrélation entre les succès de cette pratique et l’avènement de la première superstar du sport tricolore : le boxeur Georges Carpentier. Né en 1894 à Liévin, dans les bassins miniers du Pas-de-Calais, le « gosse » embrasse la carrière de pugiliste à l’âge de 14 ans. Entre 1908 et 1914, au rythme de nombreuses et surprenantes victoires, sa popularité ne cesse de croître. Elle atteint son apogée dans les deux années précédant la guerre, particulièrement lors de probants triomphes face à la fine fleur pugilistique britannique. A l’occasion de matchs mobilisant les ressorts du nationalisme anti-anglais, ces affrontements poursuivent la longue inimitié historique entre la France et la « perfide Albion », tout en nourrissant et amplifiant la célébrité du jeune prodige. A l’aube du culte des vedettes et dans une métaphore évidente de la guerre, la presse franco-britannique n’hésite pas à l’élever au rang de « vengeur de Waterloo ». Puis, contre toute attente, à quelques mois de l’embrasement de la vieille Europe, augurant du nouveau jeu d’alliance militaire qui se dessine dans les salons de la diplomatie franco-anglaise, il devient dans ces mêmes journaux le « champion de l’Entente Cordiale ». *** EN. In the years preceding the Great War, English boxing occupied an important social and cultural role in Anglo-Saxon societies (United States, Great Britain and Australia) and came to gradually occupy a similar position in France. At the turn of the 19th century, it was still an illegal and obscure show to French audiences. However, in the course of the following decade, it was propelled to higher grounds: by 1914, it had become the king of sports, both in Paris and in the provinces. The “Belle Époque of English boxing in France" is characterized by the correlation between the success of the sport and the rise of the first French boxing superstar, Georges Carpentier. Born in 1894 in Liévin, in the coal mining basins of the Pas-de-Calais, the “kid” embraces the career of pugilist at the age of 14. Between 1908 and 1914, his popularity was on a constant rise thanks to numerous and surprising victories. His popularity climaxes in the two years preceding the war, largely thanks to multiple victories against the British pugilistic elite. Mobilizing nationalism fueled by anti-English sentiments, these boxing matches are presented as a natural extension of the long historical enmity between France and the "perfidious Albion", contributing to grow and amplify the young prodigy’s fame. At the dawn of celebrity worship, and in an obvious metaphor of the war, the Franco-British press did not hesitate to adorn him as the "Waterloo avenger". Then, against all odds, a few months before the dislocation of old Europe, the same newspapers transformed him into the "champion” of the Entente Cordiale, implicitly pulling in behind the new military alliances taking shape in the halls of Franco-British diplomacy. *** PT. Às vésperas da Grande Guerra, o boxe inglês assume uma dimensão sociocultural central nas sociedades anglo-saxônicas (Estados Unidos, Grã-Bretanha e Austrália). Isso ocorre também na França, onde, até a virada do século XIX, não passava de uma encenação ilegal desconhecida do público em geral. 10 anos depois, experimenta uma ascensão meteórica, tornando-se, em 1914, o rei dos esportes em Paris, mas também nas demais cidades francesas. O período da Belle Époque do boxe inglês na França é marcado por uma convergência entre o sucesso do boxe e o advento da primeira superestrela do esporte francês: o boxeador Georges Carpentier. Nascido em 1894 em Liévin, nas bacias mineiras do Pas-de-Calais, o “moleque”, como era chamado, abraçou a carreira de pugilista aos 14 anos de idade. Entre 1908 e 1914, tendo já acumulado diversas vitórias surpreendentes, sua popularidade não para de crescer, atingindo seu auge nos dois anos que precederam a guerra, com vitórias arrasadoras contra a nata do pugilismo britânico. Essas partidas, cenário de incitação ao nacionalismo antiinglês, passaram simultaneamente a consolidar a longa inimizade histórica entre a França e o “pérfido Albion” e a fama do jovem prodígio. Nos primórdios do culto às estrelas do esporte, a imprensa franco-britânica, lançando mão de uma óbvia metáfora bélica, eleva Carpentier ao ranking de “vingador de Waterloo”. Poucos meses antes do estremecimento da velha Europa, contrariando todas as expectativas e prefigurando o novo jogo de alianças militares que se perfilava nos salões da diplomacia franco-britânica, Georges Carpentier torna-se, nas colunas desses mesmos jornais, o “campeão da Entente Cordiale”. ***

Frederick Douglass, Copyright, and the British Press, 1845-47

In 1845, Frederick Douglass established his copyright to the Narrative of the Life in the United States in order to receive just remuneration for his work. Yet Douglass also relied on a lack of international copyright law to disseminate his abolitionist message to a transatlantic audience. While Douglass made use of both copyright-protected and free-circulating forms of publication to reach a broad audience, he could not always control how his work and image would be reprinted and adapted in the transatlantic press. During his 1845-7 lecture tour, British periodicals and newspapers creatively recontextualised, abridged, and plagiarised his Narrative in articles and reviews. These forms of reuse were conventional in the publishing world of the 1840s, yet when viewed from a modern perspective, they seem to echo the exploitative practices associated with the American slave system.

Africa's global media image in a digital world as an exclusive western preserve?

Who constructs Africa's global media image? That is the main focus of this longitudinal study. It looks at both the journalists and the news sources applied in the British press coverage of Africa between 1992 and 2017. Four British national newspapers (The Guardian, Financial Times, The Times, and Daily Mail) and a mixed research approach (content analysis and semi-structured interviews) were used. A total sample of 7027 articles were utilized, while nine journalists were interviewed. This study discovered that the British newspapers’ coverage of Africa was dominated by Western journalists and the news sources used in the articles were a proportionate mixture of both African and Western sources, especially in the quality newspapers. It also uncovered that Africa's global influence, in addition to other factors impact on the UK newspapers’ coverage of Africa. This study concludes that there are some positive changes in the post-colonial British press coverage of Africa, especially in their use of news sources, but there are still some elements of neo-colonialism and racism in the British newspapers’ use of journalists in reporting on Africa.

Make leave, not war. Intertextual references in the British press coverage of Brexit

In the so-called Brexit referendum which took place on 23 June 2016, a slim majority of British citizens voted in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the EU. Following this decision, the United Kingdom officially withdrew from the European Union on 31 January 2020. On both occasions, British newspapers responded with a series of articles and front pages where they elaborated on various arguments for and against Brexit and declared sides in the Brexit campaign. The following study, which focuses on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, is based on Brexit-related front pages and articles from print and online editions of British newspapers published in both June 2016 and late January/early February 2020. The analysed periodicals represent diverging viewpoints: some argued against Brexit, whereas others backed the Leave campaign. The main points of interest are the intertextual techniques implied in the analysed media texts, ranging from direct quotation to (visual) allusion. They are viewed and discussed as means of (1) revealing the stance of the analysed newspapers; (2) extending the meaning of a given text; (3) attracting attention; and, last but not least, (4) “infotainment”, i.e. involving and entertaining the readership. The conducted analysis proves visual allusions based on British and European national symbols as well as structural allusions to films, songs and works of literature, proverbs and fixed phrases to be a widely applied journalistic strategy in the British media coverage of Brexit. Carefully targeted by producers of media and appropriately decoded by the readership not only do they fulfil a meaning-making and evaluative function but first and foremost provide entertainment, enhance the attractiveness and thus maintain and/or increase the circulation of the newspaper in question.

Obesity in the News

Obesity is a pressing social issue and a persistently newsworthy topic for the media. This book examines the linguistic representation of obesity in the British press. It combines techniques from corpus linguistics with critical discourse studies to analyse a large corpus of newspaper articles (36 million words) representing ten years of obesity coverage. These articles are studied from a range of methodological perspectives, and analytical themes include variation between newspapers, change over time, diet and exercise, gender and social class. The volume also investigates the language that readers use when responding to obesity representations in the context of online comments. The authors reveal the power of linguistic choices to shame and stigmatise people with obesity, presenting them as irresponsible and morally deviant. Yet the analysis also demonstrates the potential for alternative representations which place greater focus on the role that social and political forces play in this topical health issue.

Border Crossings

This chapter examines Andrew Clark’s exploration of language and language barriers in war-time use, and the border crossings that words often revealed. French, Belgian, Russian, Indian English, and German (among others) all attracted his attention. As he explored, articles and advertisements in the British press appeared in Flemish or French, directly addressing the shifting constitution of the Home Front in the wake of war. Clark’s interest in Indian English is richly documented. French, in particular, claimed a topical currency, infusing trench slang (and reported speech) alongside popular reportage. In contrast, distinctive forms of logophobia with reference to German as the language of the enemy generated a set of highly divisive language tactics in which linguistic and moral inversion were intentionally aligned.

THE IMAGE OF THE COLONIAL "OTHER": EAST TURKESTAN IN THE VIEWS OF THE BRITISH IN THE 1870s.

The article reveals the mechanisms of the East Turkestan’s image representation which represented in British press during Kashgaria’s expedition of sir D. Forsythe - an official of the Anglo-Indian administration and the political Adviser on Central Asian Affairs. The theme fits into the problems of the image of the colonial "Other". The process of its formation is shown through the investigation of the textual and visual components of the East Turkestan’s image which represented in British press during the period. It is the analysis of the novation and continuity of metropolitan citizens’ perception of their colonies that is in the focus of our attention in the first mass illustrated magazine “The Illustrated London News” and such conservative press as “The Daily Telegraph”, “The Morning Post”, “The Standard”, “The Manchester Courier”, “The Leeds Intelligencer”. It is the analysis of specific stylistic means that helps to construct the image of the colonial "Other" on the pages of the British press. The author analyzes the peculiarities of the Victorians ' perception of the political titulature of East Turkestan, local residents, their appearance and personal qualities, natural conditions, cities, settlements, and features of everyday life.