
Reddit, with wigs and ink - mastazi
https://aeon.co/essays/how-personal-letters-built-the-possibility-of-a-modern-public
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oska
> Habermas pointed to the early 18th century as a crucial moment of change. At
> that time, newspapers and periodicals exploded in both number and influence.
> ‘In _The Tatler, The Spectator_ and _The Guardian_ the public held a mirror
> up to itself,’ Habermas noted of the impact of a trio of periodicals by the
> journalists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. The new publications allowed
> readers to shed their personal identities as rich or poor, male or female.
> Instead, in print they could enter into conversation as anonymous equals
> rationally engaging with the topics of the day.

Just to note that the present-day publications with the same names are _not_
continuations of the periodicals referred to above.

" _The Tatler_ was a British literary and society journal begun by Richard
Steele in 1709 and published for two years." [1] " _The Spectator_ was a daily
publication founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in England, lasting
from 1711 to 1712." [2] And " _The Guardian_ was a short-lived newspaper
published in London from 12 March to 1 October 1713." [3]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatler_(1709_journal)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatler_\(1709_journal\))

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator_(1711)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator_\(1711\))

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian_(1713)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian_\(1713\))

