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A printed news sheet produced by governments and sold to the public, the gazette first appeared in the early seventeenth century and was so called because in Venice it was sold for a gazeta, a coin of small value. Also sometimes referred to as a ‘coranto’ or ‘couranto’ (from the French courante – running), it contained government proclamations and the official version of domestic and foreign events. The foreign news was obtained largely from manuscript newsletters and other gazettes, as well as from diplomatic and consular despatches. Their content made them of interest to envoys themselves, though as obvious organs of propaganda they were not generally held by them in high regard. Notable examples were the Gazette de France (the mouthpiece of Cardinal Richelieu), the Relations Véritables of Brussels, the Oprechte Haerlemse Dingsdaegse Courant (known in England as the Haarlem Gazette), and – late on the scene – the London Gazette, which did not appear until the mid-1660s. As their monopolies of the news gradually weakened, especially in the nineteenth century, official gazettes changed their form, lost their political importance and became not much more than vehicles for governmental statements (including official appointments) and legal notices – very often, material which would be given publicity nowhere else, but for which some kind of formal announcement and record is highly desirable. |
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