"The Talk of the Towne": News, Crime and the Public Sphere in Seventeenth-Century London

Lena Liapi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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Abstract

This article reconsiders ideas of the public sphere in the seventeenth century, by focusing on how public opinion is produced in the movement of information between media and between receivers. It contends that the scholarly preoccupation with a public sphere viewed exclusively in terms of politics obscures the fact that contemporaries did not distinguish between politics and subjects such as crime in their newsgathering. Examining the case study of James Turner, a burglar in the 1660s who became a cause celebre in London and beyond, this article shows how crime news were eagerly exchanged, informing discussions and constructing public opinion.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)549-564
Number of pages16
JournalCultural and Social History
Volume14
Issue number5
Early online date18 Sep 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Fingerprint

seventeenth century
public opinion
news
offense
information medium
politics
recipient
cause
Public Opinion
News
Public Sphere
Crime
Causes
1660s
Informing

Keywords

  • Public Sphere
  • Print Culture
  • Public Opinion
  • London
  • Early Modern
  • Crime
  • News Culture

Cite this

"The Talk of the Towne" : News, Crime and the Public Sphere in Seventeenth-Century London. / Liapi, Lena.

In: Cultural and Social History, Vol. 14, No. 5, 2017, p. 549-564.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Liapi, L 2017, '"The Talk of the Towne": News, Crime and the Public Sphere in Seventeenth-Century London', Cultural and Social History, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 549-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780038.2017.1375703
Liapi L. "The Talk of the Towne": News, Crime and the Public Sphere in Seventeenth-Century London. Cultural and Social History. 2017;14(5):549-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780038.2017.1375703
Liapi, Lena. / "The Talk of the Towne" : News, Crime and the Public Sphere in Seventeenth-Century London. In: Cultural and Social History. 2017 ; Vol. 14, No. 5. pp. 549-564.
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Access to Document

  • Accepted Manuscript

    This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Cultural and Social History on 18 Sep 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14780038.2017.1375703

    Accepted author manuscript, 669 KBLicence: Unspecified