Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, Vol 6, No 2 (2012)

Abstract

This paper presents some of the research conducted on the Lower Danube Press. In its development it was intended to reveal important elements of the publication, in the economic domain, but also the contributions of the newspapers to the Romanian literature. The economic activity particularly intense in the Lower Danube area resulted in the release of a large number of magazines that supported this activity. The first magazine in Galati was published in 1846, called the Dunărea/Danube. Its content came in the support of the merchants, who dealt with trade, agriculture and navigation as Mercur/Mercury in Braila, following another publication in 1849 of economic from Galati, Jurnalul de Galaţi/Galati Journal. These first publications have in common their release in several European languages of interest to traders: Italian, it was preferred as it used the Latin alphabet and it was easier to print the publication, Greek or French. In this category of papers there were released newspapers of scholarships, commercial clubs, as an expression of the concerns of such members, among whom there were also the cultural ones. It was also highlighted the fact that these publications have contributed to the evolution of the Romanian language but also of literature, of course at a lower level than the literary publications. There have been discovered also publications that had nothing to do with literature or economic, financial or literary phenomena, their purpose being only publishing documents regulating the economic activities, one example being the Semaphore de Brăila/Semaphore of Braila. It was also noted the involvement of the authorities in the promotional activities of the economy through various publications with the title of calendars, monitors, or daily newspapers, which had a modest cultural contribution. Compared with other types of publications, the economic ones are the most numerous, as the ones from the political domain.