In Richard West’s fascinating biography of Defoe, he claims that he was “the first master, if not the inventor, of almost every feature of modern newspapers, including the leading article, investigative reporting, the foreign news analysis, the agony aunt, the gossip column, the candid obituary, and even the kind of soul-searching piece which Fleet Street calls the ‘Why, Oh Why.’” And more: “He was a pioneer of the bogus Letter to the Editor, foreign stories written in London, and libel by innuendo or circumlocution. He was also an outrageous author of verse lampoons and attacked by name his Old Bailey judges, accusing one of prostituting his own wife, another of being excited by whipping half-naked women, and a third of accepting bribes from highwaymen.”
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