50. Bismarck’s print policy.

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) - the first chancellor of the united German Empire.

Bismarck’s aversion to the press and contempt for journalists is unequivocally expressed in his famous phrase “The press is not public opinion”. Bismarck not only closely followed the content of the newspapers, but also personally supervised the press, both the capital and the provincial. Against the guilty in front of him publications, he repeatedly initiated criminal proceedings. With the help of the press, Bismarck more than once dealt with his political opponents. Having united the country, Bismarck decided to create an all-German newspaper, which would be the official body of the government and a platform for expressing the political views of the Reich Chancellor himself. Such a newspaper was the North German Universal Newspaper. It was founded on July 1, 1861 in Berlin by a journalist and Republican politician Augustus Brass. About her, Bismarck, not without irony, said that "she placed at the disposal of the government a certain amount of white paper." Initially, the newspaper was called the North German Weekly and distributed about 10,000 copies.
On the initiative of Bismarck, a ministerial newspaper bureau was created, which since 1862 was officially called the literary bureau of the royal state ministry. It was subordinated to the Minister of the Interior and prepared daily newspaper reports, and also provided grants for government newspapers and magazines. The source of funding is the so-called Reptilian Fund, secret and not controlled by the Parliament, established by Bismarck. Bismarck bribed not only pro-government publications in general and specific journalists in particular, but even the “pocket” opposition. The philistines, while reading such “opposition” publications, naively believed with freedom of the press. It never occurred to them that this supposed opposition was generously paid from the Bismarck Reptilian Foundation.
Bismarck used the press as an instrument of politics, and often arranged provocations through newspapers.