War with the Newts

Newspapers are an important part of the novel. People discuss newspapers and some minor characters work at newspapers. Also, there are newspaper headlines set apart with different formatting (font size, bolding, etc.) throughout the novel, especially in Book 2. Karel Čapek, quoted in the introduction to War with the Newts, writes, “I consider it a matter of immense importance to a people how newspapers are produced” (viii-ix). In this novel, Čapek illustrates that often newspapers are not produced simply to inform the public, but also with an eye to entertain, which can take away from the context or truth of information.

In the novel, Čapek mentions that Lidove Noviny (a reference to a real newspaper that Čapek used to write for) rejected an important scientific discovery about the newts. This detail conveys an attitude of news editors toward their readers, whom they see as either being uninterested in the scientific information about the newts or unable to understand information when given in this way. Although audience awareness is a factor for anyone providing information, the newspaper’s decision not to print something based on its entertainment value is just one example of a newspaper’s unwillingness to inform the public about an issue.