Victorian journalist William Stead branded his colleagues ‘boys with matches’ for their irresponsibly bellicose rhetoric. Though Stead quoted Franco-Russian soldier Baron de Jomini, who jokingly recommended that the newsmen be hanged, he went on to stress that the freedom of the press was more important even than preventing Europe from blowing up as a result of media hysteria.

Stead’s solution to the dangers of journalistic war-mongering was to remind editors of their moral obligations, and urge them to come down from their clouds of oratory and think about the day-to-day realities of war for ordinary people. Letting loose war knowing one will not be touched by it, he added, gives a poor impression of British society.

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