Émile de Girardin

Émile de Girardin
Photograph of Girardin (1876)
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Seine
In office
7 November 1877  27 April 1881
Preceded byJules Simon
Succeeded bySeveriano de Heredia
ConstituencyParis (9th)
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Bas-Rhin
In office
1850  2 December 1851
Preceded byGustave Goldenberg
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
ConstituencyMolsheim
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Tarn-et-Garonne
In office
10 July 1842  16 July 1846
Preceded byBertrand Faure-d'Ère
Succeeded byJean-Pierre Bourjade
ConstituencyCastelsarrasin
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Creuse
In office
17 August 1846  24 February 1848
Preceded byLouis-Jean-Henry Aubusson de Soubrebost
Succeeded byJoseph-Edmond Fayolle
ConstituencyBourganeuf
In office
22 June 1834  9 July 1842
Preceded byAdolphe Bourgeois
Succeeded byAntoine Regnauld
ConstituencyGenouillac
Personal details
Born(1802-06-22)22 June 1802
Paris, Seine, France
Died27 April 1881(1881-04-27) (aged 78)
Paris, Seine, France
Political partyResistance Party (1834–1842)
Movement Party (1842–1848)
Moderate (1850–1851)
Left Republican (1877–1881)
Spouses
(m. 1831; died 1855)
    Wilhelmine Brunold, Gräfin von Tiefenbach
    (m. 1856; div. 1872)
    ProfessionJournalist, writer, publisher

    Émile de Girardin (French pronunciation: [emil ʒiʁaʁdɛ̃]; 22 June 1802  27 April 1881) was a French journalist, publisher and politician. He was the most successful and flamboyant French journalist of the era, presenting himself as a promoter of mass education through mass journalism. His magazines reached over a hundred thousand subscribers, and his inexpensive daily newspaper La Presse undersold the competition by half, thanks to its cheaper production and heavier advertising. Like most prominent journalists, Girardin was deeply involved in politics, and served in parliament. To his bitter disappointment, he never held high office. He was a brilliant polemicist, a master of controversy, with pungent short sentences that immediately caught the reader's attention.