ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the ways in which the weekly papers Tit-Bits and The Million functioned within the paradigm of social discourse, with special reference to their creator and editor, George Newnes. Newnes, with the advantage of commercial training, a sound business instinct and a capacity for 'securing the suffrage of the crowd' as a performer, was well-equipped to appeal to such an audience. The chapter examines the ways in which they offered connection, interaction and creative potential to a community of readers, and enabled Newnes to establish a responsive editorial presence as the reader's friend, adviser and representative. The Million was introduced at a time when rapid colour printing, as required for reproduction in magazines, was in its very early stages of development. Tit-Bits was itself a kind of journalistic, discursive equivalent of a settlement house, providing social services, advice, participation and a sense of community and citizenship for its audience.
