|
|
Article: Media watch; Could Emile Zola rouse today's citizenry?(NEWS)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- March 23, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A mere 103 years ago, the most famous, influential and possibly greatest article in the history of journalism was published on the front page of the Paris newspaper L'Aurore.
Titled "J'Accuse," it was an open letter from Emile Zola, a leading French novelist, accusing France of convicting an innocent man of treason.
Zola presented evidence that the French military knew that Capt. Alfred Dreyfus had been framed (partly because he was Jewish and France was rabidly anti-Semitic) and that the military knowingly allowed the real traitor to go unpunished so the authorities could avoid admitting error.
The case had already been tormenting France, and ...