ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the emerging Czech popular press in the period of rapid urbanisation and population movement at the turn of the twentieth century, and on the experience of its readers, who found themselves caught between their traditional, rural mindset and the modernity of the city. It discusses through analysis of its content as well as its illustrations, and by undertaking a comparison with other Central European press publications. Although educated Czechs welcomed the arrival of technological innovation in Prague in the late nineteenth century, the nationalist and mostly conservative elite were wary of foreign intellectual and cultural influences, and particularly hostile to urban popular culture represented by the sensational press. The chapter therefore explores further the origin of the Czech popular press, how it became representative of the masses and why it was so attractive to the urban newcomers. In Prague, the first successful illustrated daily went on sale in 1893 under the name of Prask Illustrovan Kurr.
