It would have been impossible for a reader of almost any newspaper of the time to open his or her newspaper – whether from a left-wing or right-wing perspective – without reading something providing coverage of the colonial exhibition (Hodeir and Pierre, 1991), and most of these newspapers described the exhibition, and therefore the Empire as a whole, as a success (August 1985). Media support for the exhibition clearly translated into successful ticket sales. Indeed, addressing the French and foreign press, the Belgian commissioner general declares that the success of the exhibition is due to the public opinion formed by the press (Hodeir and Pierre, 1991: