République du Croissant
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The République du Croissant (literally Republic of the Croissant) was a nickname for Paris's press district, akin to Fleet Street in London. The term originated late in the 19th century for the area between Réaumur and Opéra in the 2nd arrondissement which housed most of the major French newspapers of the time.[1] Several newspapers and press agencies retain premises in the area even today.
The district was centred on the junction between rue du Croissant and rue Montmartre, site of the café du Croissant, which on 31 July 1914 saw the assassination of Jean Jaurès, founder and director of L'Humanité. In the district major press businesses tried to establish rules and means for their economic development, such as issuing cards to those who delivered and resold newspapers.[2]
Not far from the Bourse and Grands boulevards, the district housed most of Paris' newspaper presses and newsrooms, where journalists and press barons set up organisations such as Edgar Monteil's Association syndicale professionnelle des journalistes républicains français (ASPJRF)[3] This was a boom era for the French press – in 1914 it was the most widely-read in the world with 244 copies for every 1,000 inhabitants.[4] and well-known reporters such as Pierre Giffard, Jules Huret, Gaston Leroux, Pierre Mille, Séverine and Fernand Xau.
At the time the French media scene was dominated by four daily newspapers published in Paris – Le Matin, Le Petit Parisien under Albert Londres and Jean Dupuy, Le Petit Journal and Le Journal.