The Talke of the Towne: News, Crime and the Public Sphere is 17th Century London

Abstract

This article reconsiders ideas of the public sphere in the seventeenth century, by focusing on how public opinion is shaped by 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 célèbre in London and beyond, this article shows how crime news were eagerly exchanged, informing discussions and constructing public opinion.

Citation

(2017). The Talke of the Towne: News, Crime and the Public Sphere is 17th Century London. Cultural and Social History, 549-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780038.2017.1375703

• Acceptance Date: Mar 6, 2017
• Publication Date: Sep 18, 2017
• Journal: Cultural and Social History
• Print ISSN: 1478-0038
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 549-564
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14780038.2017.1375703
• Keywords: public sphere, news, crime, media, London, culture, history, social history
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2017.1375703