The 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War: Specifics of Coverage by French Correspondents in the Far East

The article aims at identifying the specific qualities of coverage of the war between Russia and Japan in 1904-1905 by French newspapers. The study is based on the publications in four of the leading French newspapers of the period (Le Figaro, Le Temps, Le Journal, and Le Matin) which are presented in Gallica, the online archive of the National Library of France (Bibliotheque nationale de France). Particular attention is focused on publications that reflect the early period of the conflict (27 January - 10 February 1904) and several episodes of the war (the shelling of Port Arthur in January-February 1904 and the battle of Liaoyang 24 August - 4 September 1904). The study of archival documents (a total of 15 issues of Le Matin, 15 issues of Le Journal, 10 issues of Le Figaro, and 2 issues of Le Temps that have previously been neither fully translated into Russian nor presented to the academic community) clearly demonstrates that the French newspapers followed one single communication strategy which was quite different from the other pro-Japanese European and American media. The study of hard news and interviews published on the early stage of the conflict reflects the attempts to create a positive image of the Russian Empire in the eyes of French readers, even though the analysed newspapers relied mainly on reports from English, German, and American newspapers and telegraph agencies. However, reportages, published by a dozen of journalists sent to the theatre of operations in the Far East from Paris, were not only a part of this strategy to reinforce the positive image of Russian troops, they also created an objective picture and a deeply personal account of the event seen through the eyes of a war reporter - the identity and adventures of a war correspondent became, for the first time in the history of French press, a major subject of interest for the audience of the French press. Having examined in detail the publications of two quality newspapers (Le Figaro and Le Temps) and two newspapers for a wider audience (Le Matin and Le Journal) presented on the website of the Gallica archive, the author comes to the conclusion that the French press established a dual approach to war coverage in these years. Despite the great role of information from foreign newspapers and telegraph agencies, gradually, it is the reportage from French correspondents that becomes the leading genre in French journalism at the beginning of the 20th century. Articles describing the reporter's view of the war laid the foundation not only for war journalism but for reportage journalism in the French press as well. Therefore, this study analyses these publications as proper examples of the war reportage and not just as individual correspondence from the front lines. The case of the Russo-Japanese war coverage allows analysing the principles of the construction of belligerents' images in quality and mass newspapers as well as their communication strategy.