Fjölmiðlasaga

 

Í Lundúnum var á 17. öld prentað dagblað sem kallaðist The Athenian Mercury. Ég á eintak af þessu blaði frá 14. ágúst 1694. Þetta var uppfræðandi blað. Suma daga voru spurningar af ýmsu tagi, trúarlegar og lagalegar, sem lesendur gátu sent ritstjórninni. Ritstjórnin leitaði eftir bestu getu að svörum. Blaðið, sem oftast var einblöðungur, var prentað af John Dunton "at the Raven in the Poultrey".

Auglýsingar báru náttúrulega þetta framtak Duntons uppi. Hins vegar var ýmislegt vafasamt oft auglýst, eins og t.d. þjónusta læknisins Thomas Kirleus, sem var greinilega hinn versti loddari og bölvaður skottulæknir.  Svona lýsti hann sjálfur þjónustu sinni:

"In Grays-Inn-Lane in Plow-yard, the third Door, lives Dr. Thomas Kirleus, a Collegiate Physician, and a Sworn Physician in Ordinary to King Charles the Second, until his death; who with a Drink and a Pill (hindring no Business) undertakes a cure any Ulcers, Sores, Swellings in the Nose, Face or other parts; Scabs, Itch, Scurfs, Leprocies, and Venerial Disease, expecting nothing until the Cure be finished: Of the last he hath cured many hundreds in this City, many of them after fluxing which carries the evil from the Lower Parts to the Head, and so destroys many. De Drink is 3 s. The Quart, the Pill 1 s. a Box, with Directions; a better Purger than which was never given, for they cleanse the Body of all Impurities, which are the causes of Dropsies, Gouts, Scurviews, Stone or Gravel, Pains in the Head, and other parts. Take heed whom you trust in Physick, for it's become common Cheat to prosess it. He gives his Opinion to all that write or come, for nothing."

Þetta var 17. öldin. En er ekki verið að auglýsa vitagagnlausa ristilsskolun í dag á Íslandi?