La Gazette

…under Richelieu’s supervision, Renaudot founded La Gazette (later La Gazette de France), a weekly sheet relating government-sanctioned news, which he edited and published until his death. In 1635 he established a free dispensary and two years later added France’s first pawnbroking shops to the bureau’s activities. His installation of public-health…

…by an officially authorized publication, La Gazette, published under the name of Théophraste Renaudot but with influential backing by Cardinal de Richelieu. The new publication was to continue (as La Gazette de France) until 1917, casting the shadow of authority over nonofficial newspapers throughout its life. The first French daily—Le…