News with an Attitude

In the 18th century, public discussion on language was influenced by the philosophical debates of the Age of Enlightenment, bearing a theoretical character. The discussions found concrete expression in the moral weeklies (known as “Spectators”), a prototype of opinion journalism which developed from Joseph Addison and Richard Steele’s periodical The Spectator (London, 1711–1712 and 1714). The Spectators experienced a European circulation through translations and imitations, thus contributing to