a French writer and poet known for publishing the weekly news of Parisian society (including, initially, its pinnacle, the court of Louis XIV itself) from 1650 until 1665 in verse in what he called a gazette burlesque. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of journalism" as a result of his topical writings. In an 1868 review of the French press, Charles Dickens called Loret's journal "the smartest of them all" being published in the period following the death of Louis XIII, and noted that he was able to escape government censorship until 1652, after which the government forbade Loret from writing about matters of Church or State.
