The Reporting of the Discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii in 18th-Century English Newspapers (1747-1799)

The paper examines persuasive and popularizing strategies of news reporting in a database of 50 news items about the discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii published in London newspapers from 1747 to 1799. By applying van Dijk’s persuasive content features of modern journalism (1988) and integrating them with the indicators of popularization in the news identified by Umbricht and Esser (2016), the study aims to identify the major discourse strategies adopted in 18th-century news in order to disseminate specialized knowledge to the public. The qualitative analysis of the different news text-types documents a gradual change of attitude towards antiquities throughout the century.