Reportage, Rumours, and Conversation

Abstract

Immediately following the dramatic coup against J. F. Struensee in 1772, information on the events at court was in high demand. Amid this political upheaval an enterprising publicist in Copenhagen launched a new magazine with the explicit ambition of reporting whatever information could by picked up about the coup. In order not to be on a collision course with the new regime the magazine invented a new way of curating different types of intelligence by segregating news, rumours, and commentary in recurrent columns. This adaptable news coverage evaded controversy by reflexive intertwinement of the contents of the columns, while at the same time giving readers the opportunity to make their own value attribution of the information presented.