Seminar based on Dreyfus and J'accuse

The final seminar of semester 2 and indeed year 1 of the History and Context of Journalism course was based around the Dreyfus affair and J'accuse written by Emile Zola. During the seminar there were two seminar papers which were read to the group both containing well contructed opinions of the affair.The papers sparked a very long discussion about racism and how people who have different religious beliefs can be targeted as the Dreyfus affair shows as he was blamed for the scandal because he was Jewish. The group decided that this kind of racism continued after the affair with Hitler and the Nazi party targeting Jews during the First World War. One of the main areas of debate during the seminar was to what extent did journalism play a part in uncovering the Dreyfus affair and the response by the French public to Zola's article. Journalism had a major role as reporters gathered stories from the courts, the army and the public and wrote articles which were published in a number of  French newspapers and also newspapers all across Europe. This level of press coverage had an affect on the public as during the affair they began to take sides with the left wing accusing Dreyfus and the right wing supporting him and this was not only happening in France but throughout Europe.

The Dreyfus Affair

The final lecture of semester 2 was based around The Dreyfus affair and J’ Accuse written by Emile Zola written in 1898. This affair can be seen as one of the most crucial events in history and had a huge impact on journalism. In order to fully understand the affair in its context we must look at the history of France during the 19^th century.

In 1871 the French army was defeated by the Prussian army during the Franco Prussian War and Paris was under siege. There was a severe shortage of food and the Parisians were forced to eat animals from the zoo and the rich merchants fled.  France was absolutely ruined as a country and the King, Napoleon III was forced to abdicate and a new provisional government was formed. The rich merchants returned to Paris and demanded rent with interest from the workers which they had no means to pay as they had just been freed from siege. In March of that year, the poor started a revolution whereby they took control of the state and the Paris Commune was set up to introduce new social reforms that would benefit the people such as improved working conditions. At the end of May, the French army stormed into the city and destroyed the commune executing nearly 30,000 people.

Alfred Dreyfus
9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935

The Dreyfus affair began in 1874 when secret documents were found in a rubbish bin at the German Embassy giving important information about the French army. The government immediately began looking for the culprit and Alfred Dreyfus was accused of supplying documents to the Germans. Dreyfus was a captain in the French army and was fully educated at a military school. He grew up in the town of Alsace which was German controlled and was raised by his parents as a Jew. During his trial in front of French army officers he was humiliated and his war medals were torn off his uniform and his sword was snapped in half.  He was judged to be guilty and was sent to Devil’s Island where he was imprisoned, had little exercise and awful food.  Following his exile a fellow French journalist, Emile Zola published an article named J’ Accuse in a newspaper claiming that Dreyfus was innocent and he named the corrupt officers who had actually been spying. The documents were found to be written by Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy who was a known spy. After much uproar he was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay huge fines.

When the French government changed, Dreyfus was brought back from Devil’s Island but he was a weak shadow of his former self. He was weak and could barely talk and his name was in ruins. It was ordered that he should face yet another trial and amazingly he was found to be guilty yet again with “extenuating circumstances”. This was one of the biggest trials in Europe and journalists came to France from all over Europe to report on events. Before the trail began his barrister was shot but police refused to help and he was robbed of all his possessions. He was eventually pardoned in 1899 but the events had caused a great divide throughout Europe between the left and right wing parties.

Seminar based on Rural Rides

The seminar this week was based around Rural Rides written by William Cobbett in 1830 which is essentially a collection of articles which were written throughout Cobbett's journeys across England. He wanted to witness the situation in the countryside for himself as the Industrial Revolution was having a massive impact on agriculture and trade and get opinions from the people whose lives it was affecting first hand. During the seminar three people presented a paper offering various interpretations and opinions of Rural Rides with one paper containing a set of questions which members of the group answered. I thought this was a good idea as it meant we had a clearer understanding of Cobbett and the context in which the book was produced. Overall, for me personally the seminar added further knowledge to my understanding of Rural Rides which will hopefully be important for the exam at the end of May.