Verffentlichungen des Instituts fur Europische Geschichte Mainz

The media system of political journalism in Germany of the Early Modern Era was by no means an official entity. Rather, increasing autonomy developed based on a reciprocal relationship with the developmental processes. It profited from the broad availability of a steady flow of financial resources and thus remained independent of patronizing transfer benefits. Both publishers and editors interpreted the "agenda setting" according to their own criteria, motivated more by news value than by linguistic rules. The readers were at first only those who populated the court(yards) as well as the landed and upcoming learned men. In the 17th century, however, their influence spread until, in the course of the 18th century, even the unlearned came to show an interest.