History as a Communication Event: The Example of the French Revolution

Abstract

During 1989 the bicentenary of the French Revolution has been celebrated. The moment is therefore opportune to examine this important event from the perspective of communication and media research. While historical research has provided many different explanations for the French Revolution, the role of communication as an independent factor in the revolutionary process has largely been ignored. The intention of this article is to describe the contribution of mass communication to the outbreak and development of the French Revolution, referring to recent concepts of media effects (i.e. the spiral of silence).