For the last number of years, I have been tweeting front pages from Le Petit Journal Illustré from Gallica (the digital library of the National Library of France) every Monday. Check out my Twitter account here. In all that time, I think this is the first Irish story that has appeared on the front page.
The front page from Sunday, 19 September 1920 shows the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, lying on his bed in a jail cell in Brixton Prison. MacSwiney was arrested in Cork on 12 August 1920 and charged with sedition. He went on hunger strike in protest at his imprisonment and the fact that he had been tried by a military court. He died at age 41 years on 25 October 1920. His story was the subject of countless newspaper articles around the world and according to historian, Diamaid Ferriter, MacSwiney became "a temporary international icon". Photographs of MacSwiney and editorial cartoons about his fate also filled the newspapers.
The front page of this illustrated periodical was usually focused on the major French and international news stories of the day. During the First World War, the front page became dominated by images of war, as well as portraits of French and allied soldiers and generals. After the war, images of devastated towns and cities around France featured on the front page.
It would be interesting to dig a little deeper into the history of this kind of publication and see how it changed over the years, especially during the First World War. Newspapers and periodicals were drastically reduced in size due to paper shortages. The French press was heavily censored at that time and what became known as 'bourrage de crane' [brainwashing] was said to be widespread in the press. That's another days work!
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