Sucking Up

Napoleon

One of then most outstanding examples of the tendency of media to suck up to power is a series of Newspaper headlines printed in Paris in 1815 about the return to power of Napoleon.

Now after Napoleon was defeated in 1814 he had been exiled to the island of Elba, which is just off the coast of Italy.

Napoleon for various reasons tired of his exile and decided to try to regain power in France. So he left the island of Elba and landed in southern France in early March of 1815. And here are various Headlines from Paris newspapers up to Napoleon's entry into Paris on March 22 1815.

March 9

THE ANTHROPOPAGUS1 HAS QUITTED HIS DEN

March 10

THE CORSICAN OGRE HAS LANDED AT CAPE JUAN

March 11

THE TIGER HAS ARRIVED AT CAP

March 12

THE MONSTER SLEPT AT GRENOBLE

March 13

THE TYRANT HAS PASSED THROUGH LYONS

March 14

THE USURPER IS DIRECTING HIS STEPS TOWARDS DIJON

March 18

BONAPARTE IS ONLY SIXTY LEAGUES FROM THE CAPITAL

He has been fortunate enough to escape his pursuers

March 19

BONAPARTE IS ADVANCING WITH RAPID STEPS, BUT HE WILL NEVER ENTER PARIS

March 20

NAPOLEON WILL, TOMORROW, BE UNDER OUR RAMPARTS

March 21

THE EMPEROR IS AT FONTAINBLEAU

March 22

HIS IMPERIAL AND ROYAL MAJESTY

arrived yesterday at the Tuileries amid the joyful acclamations of his devoted and faithful subjects2

The progression from vicious attack and name calling to slavish adoration has Napoleon got nearer and nearer to Paris and reestablishing himself in power is reflected in the very headlines that at first moderated the name calling and then at the end sucked up to Napoleon is quite funny in a painful sort of way but perfectly reflects media subservience to power. 

At first the media in question tailored it's headlines to reflect the apparent power of the ruling Bourbon dynasty. As Napoleon got nearer to Paris the vocabulary changed to reflect the growing apparent power of Napoleon. When Napoleon took Paris the media in question fell easily and almost effortlessly into adulation of a man they were calling a cannibal and monster only a few weeks before.

Of course there has been remarkably little real change in the media subservience to power since.

1. Anthropopagus means man eater or cannibal.

2. Maclean, Eleanor, Between the Lines, Black Rose Books, Montreal, 1981, p. 61.

Note: An excellent example of modern suck up literature about Napoleon is Andrew Roberts, Napoleon the Great, Allen Lane, London, 2016. Mr. Roberts sucks up very hard to Napoleon and no doubt he swallows too.