The ups and downs of the right to information

What are we talking about when we talk about the right to information? In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte decided that the pope should crown him emperor and invited his mother to accompany him to the ceremony. She, however, refused to attend. What's more, she organized a trip to Italy so she wouldn't be in Paris on that day. Whether this was because of her republican ideas or because she refused to recognize Josephine as empress is a matter for historians to debate. The fact is that she did not attend. Despite her absence, anyone who visits the Louvre Museum today and contemplates the enormous painting by Jacques-Louis David will see Napoleon's mother in the box of honor, celebrating the coronation of her son... and Josephine.

In 2016, the Oxford Dictionary decided that the term that best defined that year was “post-truth.” The following year, it chose “fake news,” as if such things had not been present in history since ancient times.