Girardin, Émile de

(1806-1881)

   publisher, political figure

   Born in Paris, Émile de Girardin, who was the husband of the writer Delphine Gay (see girardin, mme), after numerous successful publications founded La Presse (1836), the first moderately priced newspaper, accessible to the general public. This innovation, which made Girardin the founder of the modern press and caused heated debates in the journalistic world, resulted in his fighting a duel with armand carrel, whom he killed (1836). A political opportunist, Girardin, an elected deputy (1834), was a member of the Legislative Assembly (1849), but was expelled after the coup d'état of December 2, 1851. Upon his return to France, he continued the publication of La Presse and founded the newspaper La Liberté (1866), in which he was a defender of a liberal Empire, before supporting the government of adolphe thiers in Le Moniteur universel and Le Petit Journal (1872). Girardin then attacked General edme mac-mahon and albert, duke de broglie in La France (1877).