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The Suffering of the French National Newspapers

How The French Newspaper Scene Has Changed Dramatically In Just Two Years

When it comes to their media the French are quite a bit different from their fellow EU citizens. They love listening to the radio, they just love their weekly picture magazines featuring personalities, but when it comes to newspapers it’s a really hard sell.

Not that you can’t get the French to buy a newspaper if there’s something there that really interests them. L’Equipe, the daily sports paper, saw its normal 300,000 circulation triple on the day after France beat Brazil in the World Cup. And could that perhaps be a symptom of the problem – the French nationals don’t have all that much news that really interests their readers?

Indeed several provincial newspapers have higher circulation than some nationals.

Readers have flocked to free newspapers and they certainly use the Internet, but that is no different to any other country. French national newspaper circulation continues to slide, albeit at a slower pace than before. If ever there was a recipe for losing money then the French national newspapers are still the top chefs!

But something peculiar has happened in the past two years. French businessmen with very deep pockets have taken on the challenge of trying to stop the rot.

Serge Dassault, who runs France’s most important defense industry of the same name, bought around 80% of Socpresse, which owns Le Figaro among other notable titles, for €1.5 billion in 2004. He has let it be known he doesn’t appreciate articles that are not business friendly – causing more than 10% of the Le Figaro journalists to leave -- but he has opened his wallet for the badly needed reinvestment not only paying for the newspaper’s re-design but also for a new printing plant in southern France.

Le Monde raised €65 million via three additional investors including Lagardère, the French media and industrial conglomerate.

And in perhaps the most unexpected investment of all Edouard de Rothschild has just made a second investment tranche at the left-wing Liberation, although he exacted the resignation of Serge July, its 33-year-editor as part of the price to be paid.

And perhaps things are getting better. Springer is rumored to be thinking of launching a PM – poor France Soir that once had a circulation in seven figures is down to around 60,000 today.

The pages that follow chronicle these events.

Contents

Survival for Some French National Dailies in Doubt as Circulation Drops Dramatically

The Very Rich (Bankers and Industrialists) Come to the Aid of the Very Poor (French National Newspapers). But Is It In Time?

French, Spanish and Italian Financial Backers Provide Le Monde With Much Needed Financial Support. Look Soon for Big Changes in How a French National Newspaper Gets Marketed

To Attract the Young Think of 10 Year-Old Editors!

Three Hugely Successful French National Daily Newspapers Team Up With the Miami Herald To Test If Their Formula Is Exportable to Anglo-Saxons

Despite a Near Unanimous Traditional Media Urging Oui, the French Voted A Big Non to the European Constitution Proving Print and Broadcast Are Not As Powerful As They Think They Are. Or, Put Another Way - The Internet Rules the Information Age.

Lunch Disturbed at Canal Plus

Le Figaro Relaunches and Claims to Finally Stop The French National Newspaper Circulation Rot with a 16% Increase; That Has Everyone Holding Their Breath for the Le MondeRelaunch in November

Key Members of the Le Monde Redesign Team Tell FTM What They Have Tried to Achieve, and How, Including Why They Didn’t Touch the Logo - It Was The One Feature of the Paper Not Broken

Libèration Employees Stage 4 Day Strike to Protest Layoffs

European Free Newspaper Market Share Ranges from 72% in Iceland to Just 6% in Austria, But Already Free Newspapers are Circulation Leaders In Spain and Switzerland With More Free NewspapersComing

Lagardére Becomes 20% Shareholder in Canal Plus France

The Once Mighty France-Soir To Slash 55% Of Staff To Survive

Edouard de Rothschild Proves Money Speaks Louder Than Words At Liberation And The Editor Of Paris Match Learns Embarrassing A Future Presidential Candidate In France Can Still Lose You Your Job

The Suffering of the French National Newspapers, 40 pages, PFD
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