International Newspapers Conference:Asia and the Pacific

Developments of French Newspaper Publishing : A general view

Else Delaunay

Introduction

Indeed, it is not easy to give a clear and precise picture of what is going on at the moment. Surely the situation of the French press is difficult as for newspapers in many other countries. However, the reasons of the present stagnation in France may not always be the same as in those countries. I shall try here to introduce you shortly to the present situation, in particular to the daily press and its weekly supplements.

France has a long press tradition. The first French newspaper La Gazette by Théophraste Renaudot dates back to 1631. In 1836, when launching his daily newspaper La Presse which quickly became a great success, Emile de Girardin cut down the issue price 50 % with regard to other rivaling newspapers as he understood it was necessesary to lower the price in order to multiply the number of readers and, consequently, be more attractive to advertisers who would then pay a part of the newspaper. The modern newspaper publishing was born.

Since then, the French press has been living on a double easy theorem: lower sales prices mean better sales; the newspaper sales and the advertising finance the undertaking. But today this model is compromised, both economically and as to the contents of the newspaper. It seems to be the end of an historical cycle. The press must look to new ideas, new settings of presentation and content, in other words a redynamisation is necessary so as to win back lost readership, to captivate new readers, especially the youth, and to find new advertisers. A real challenge for the next years…

In most newspapers there is not yet special contents for young readers. Generally the items which concern young people are to be found in supplements and inserts published weekly by the daily newspapers (ex. Le Monde 2 which is highly illustrated ; Le Figaro Grandes écoles and Les Echos Sup both meant for students). It is indeed time to reexamine the situation so as to understand young people's new tastes and priorities.

Regulation of French Newspaper Publishing
The Freedom of the press was conceded in 1881, a 100 years after the Human Rights Declaration and the French Revolution ! It was the beginning of a real " gold age " for the French press. Daily and weekly newspapers flourished all over the country and this period lasted until 1914. Even after the First World war the press was still very active.

After the Second World war the French press was totally reorganised but the principle of freedom of expression remained. This freedom is eroded today as newspapers are more and more dependent on funding… and big financial groups do own most of the papers. Under such circumstancies it is indeed difficult for the journalists to remain free to express opinons and ideas or to critisize actions or official statements.

Right now, as the freedom of the press recently has been attacked several times, an association of journalists called " Droit à l 'Info " (which means " Right to Inform ") tries to formulate an amendment to the bill in order to defend journalists' rights and freedom and to guarantee their duties.

Reasons of the present stagnation

The economic degradation due to fall of incomings is of course the most serious problem. When funding is cut down, developing possibilities of the newspaper will shrink.

Since 1990, the regional newspapers have lost 660 000 copies; paid circulation concerned 5.6 million copies for 18 million users which means an average reduction of 1.2 % per year.

After the Second World War 175 regional dailies were published in France and 82 dailies in Paris; today 63 regional newspapers are issued every day. In Paris there are only 16 daily newspapers, the same amount as in 1828, at the very beginning of the industrial newspaper publishing !

Sales incomings
Prices seem too high as information has become very cheap at present through audiovisual media (television, Internet) and free newspapers. Readers do not want to spend money on newspapers if they do not get more here than in the free papers or on Internet. Single copy price of a national daily varies from 0,80 euro (L'Equipe) to 1,20 euro (Libération, Les Echos) and of a regional daily from 0,70 euro (Ouest-France) to 0,90 euro (L'Est républicain).
The eroding of the single copy sales is also due to the fact that the youth (aged 15 to 25) is not interested in daily newspaper reading as it does not find its marks in the contents of the papers. It is a question of subjects dealt with and the way they are developed but also of accuracy of informations and to what extend one can rely on them.
The phenomenon is not limited to France. The sales of the American daily International Herald Tribune were reduced by 4.16 % in 2003, in the UK sales of the Financial Times regressed by 6.06 % during the same year. Subscriptions represent a small part of the national newspapers sales (23 %) while they are very well off for regional and local newspapers (52 %). In fact, many local readers prefer subscription to daily purchase of a newspaper as selling places may be quite far away, especially for readers outside the towns.

Advertising incomings
At present, newspapers spend an important amount of money on advertising on television but their advertising incomings have lowered very much, especially because of the classified advertising. Only a few national newspapers as Le Figaro, Aujourd'hui Le Parisien, La Croix … and quite a number of regional newspapers such as Ouest France, Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, La Montagne… have a good deal of classified advertising.
Moreover, free newspapers such as Métro, 20 Minutes, A nous Paris , Paru-vendu … have taken over a great part of advertising as the publishing of these papers only depend on advertising incomings. Some national and regional newspapers have now invested in free newspapers.
As to the audience 20 Minutes touches already an average of 2 million readers per day, while the daily Le Parisien (including 11 local editions around Paris) only touches 1.7 million ; Métro has 1.6 million readers a day and reaches a great number of towns in France. It is true that editorial quality has improved recently in some of the free newspapers.

On the whole sales incomings represented 50.4 % in 2003 and advertising incomings 49.6 % of which classified advertising represented only 17.9 %. That means a general reduction of 2.2 % with regard to 2002

Closing down of selling places
France has round 32 400 sales spots of which ca 875 were closed in 2004, especially booths in Paris. It is a hard job to be distributor of newspapers as the French law requires that all newspapers received must be on display, whether they are very much sold or not. It is Bichet's bill of 1947 which forbids all discrimination of distribution among the titles, even if 20 % generate 80 % of the turnover. It is a principle of displaying all trends of the press.
A distributor generally manage from 1000 to 3000 titles and has to run big stocks of non sold copies. He also sells other items than newspapers. But he is quite badly paid, in general from 13 to 18 % of the sales price, while his British colleagues obtain 25 % of the sales price.
The closing down of selling places is a real problem. The young readership that almost never takes a subscription of a newspaper, is particularly concerned by the reduction of sales spots. The most efficient spots are the " Maisons de la presse " and " Relay ".

Circulation
The circulation of daily newspapers in 2003 represented 2,350,609,336 copies a year. That means a fall of 1.88 % with regard to 2002. There is a regular fall in circulation of daily newspapers. Today France only ranks 31st worldwide with regard to the number of circulated dailies per 1000 inhabitants. Weekly and monthly newspapers or magazines are better off. In general they deal with subjects meant for a specific regular audience but it is also necessary for them to modernize presentation and developing of the subjects.
In Germany circulation of daily newspapers have regressed by 7 % during the last five years, in Denmark by 9.5 %, in Austria by 9.9 % and in Belgium by 6.9 %. Even Japanese newspapers which show the highest circulation worldwide have regressed by 2.2 %.
In the European Union, during the last eight years, the paid daily newspaper circulation had a fall of 7 million copies. Worldwide the paid circulation of newspapers has a yearly average fall of 2 %.
Many daily newspapers companies had to reduce their staff in 2004 (ex. Le Monde). After negotiations with the trade-unions a two-yearly plan of voluntary retirement is generally proposed and adopted .
In the United States, from 2000 to 2004, the written press industry cut down more than 2000 jobs, that means 4 % of the staffs.

Decline due to lower information and editorial quality

As a matter of fact the decline touches all reference press now. A real modernizing of editorial methods is necessary. If the press seems dull to many people, it is probably because of its information sources and the lack of control and analyzing of informations. Most newspapers are informed by AFP (the French News Agency) so you find the same events and news in them and very often dealt with in the same way. Therefore you get a uniformed and flat presentation in many newspapers; photos too are often the same. Why should you then buy a daily newspaper ? You get the same information in the free papers and, of course, on the web. Besides, most papers have now a web site showing a compact version of the paper. And the television too provides with informations.

The rivals (television, free newspapers, news magazines, websites, newspapers on line) are there to supersede the press and they are cheap. In fact, the worst rival is Internet. In 2004, during the first three month, 4.7 million new web sites were created. Today there are some 70 million web sites worldwide and round 700 million web users !
In many countries people abandon newspaper reading - and even the television - preferring the computer screen. The ADSL has particularly changed the situation. The monthly subscription price of the quick Internet line varies from 10 to 30 euros. In France 5.5 million families have ADSL access to the press on line, texts, photos, music, television, radio, films, etc. 79 % of the world press have editions on line.
The " blogs " phenomenon must also be considered. It is caracteristic for the web culture; it has exploded during the last six month of 2004. You find here a mixture of private writings, information, opinions, rumors …with no control. The " bloggers " are subjective and partial.
The connection of Internet to the mobile telephone which can do everything will certainly speed up developing. Information becomes still more movable and nomadic. At any time it is possible to know what is going on in the world. The SMS (Short Message Service) is a technology that makes it possible to communicate in a quick, short and cheap way.>BR> Result : all information sectors, except Internet, loose audience; the competition between the medias has become merciless.

A special French phenomenon : Subscription
It is true that French readers, especially in Paris and other big towns, prefer to buy the newspaper they want, when they want (may be just once or twice a week) and where they want. It is an old tradition corresponding with a certain taste for individual freedom: to be free to choose and to buy when it suits you. But it is not a very comfortable situation for the newspapers that cannot count on a rather precise amount of regular readers.
As to Newspapers of the 7th day (Sunday) there is not really a tradition for newspaper reading on Sunday in France, except sport news published in Le Journal de Dimanche and in L'Equipe Dimanche, as well as in some regional Sunday editions which are more like a supplement than a real newspaper.

But how to fight against stagnation and take up the challenge ?

Means

Financial concentrations
How independent is the French press ? Two big defence groups, Dassault and Lagardère, and two luxury-goods groups, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) and Pinault Printemps Redoute (PPR), already control a big chunk of the French newspaper business, and this chunk is now even bigger: the banker Edouard de Rothschild just got the control of 37 % of the capital of Libération !
The purchase of Socpresse (in April 2004) by the defence group Dassault providing the army with fighter aircrafts on state contracts raised objections about the independence of the press from political interference. According to the legislation such concentrations are possible but is it reasonable ? Journalism may then be muzzled or at least be single coloured.

Right now Socpresse is on the point to sell three local newspapers in Western France to the big regional paper Ouest France which has the highest circulation in the country : round 800 000 copies a day (while Le Monde, for instance, only has a daily circulation of 470 000 copies). Ouest France has some 40 local editions !
The second defence industrial Lagardère owns the Group Hachette Filipacchi Medias, the biggest publisher worldwide of magazines: 245 titles in 36 countries ! with 47 magazines in France as Elle, Paris Match…and daily regional or local newspapers as La Provence, Nice-Matin, Corse-Presse.
If the newspaper circulation continues to shrink, the written independent press may gradually be submitted to a few industrials' control who multiply alliances between them and therefore threaten the very important pluralism of the press.
Of course, all the industrial investors (except Serge Dassault) have promissed not to interfere with the opinions expressed by the journalists but is it realistic ? The amalgamating of business, politics and newspaper publishing does not guarantee the freedom of expression and the pluralism of the press. In fact, financial concentrations and amalgamating touched all medias in 2004 and this will probably continue in 2005 and further on. The goodwill journalism is dominating while the critisizing journalism steps back. One may even wonder if at the time of globalisation and media megagroups, the concept of press freedom is not on the point to disappear. Commercial obsession and information ethics are contradictory.

The case of Le Monde
The principal independent group of the written press La Vie-Le Monde had severe deficits in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Because of the central role Le Monde plays in French intellectual life, one must hope it will remain sheltered from the predators who desire it, and that the new stage which is starting right now will not only bring out a new setting but rather " the search for accuracy " allowing readers to " find a reference, a reply, a validation ", briefly " a newspaper where competence surpasses all complicities " (cf. Jean-Marie Colombani, head of Le Monde in his article published on 16 December, 2004).
But it is also necessary to look for new shareholders in order to recapitalize up to an amount of 50 million euros and seek for new advertising contracts. A complete reorganisation is going on. The real change, however, will be the new presentation of the paper in a few months, the form and the substance ! New and some previous headings and items must balance if Le Monde will keep its present readership and develop a new and younger one.

Remedies

Supplements
Most national and regional dailies publish one or several supplements or inserts, every week, of more specific content (fashion, sport, TV programmes…), joining sometimes a DVD or a CD. However, the price of the issue may then be as high as 6 or 7 euros (ex. Le Monde and Le Figaro join a DVD to some Saturday issues). In spite of the price these issues are quite successful.
Le Figaro has just started to join an Encyclopedia: 18 volumes in a small format; one volume published every Tuesday; the price is then 11,90 euros + 1 euro for the paper, and it seems to work !

The Tabloid Format
In France this format has not yet been adopted by the daily newspapers, so much more as some of them are already published in a rather small format such as Le Monde, Libération, Le Parisien, Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace …The newspaper publishers are still hesitating to publish a tabloid edition.
In the UK the tabloid format seems to be successful (ex. The Independent, The Times have improved sales significantly since they started publishing an tabloid edition; 16.3 % for The Independent and 4.6 % for The Times). But the consumer press is regressing in spite of the tabloid format.
4 titles were launched in Germany in 2004: 20 Cent, Welt Kompakt, News and Direkt. Two kinds of publishing are used: the tabloid edition has the same contents as the large size edition but with a more compact setting, or the tabloid edition is rewritten (with a proper editorial staff) using some contents of the large size edition, developing some specific items (Wall Street Stock Exchange news, local news, cultural events …), adopting more or less a magazine feature (ex. Welt Kompakt, Direkt). Single copy price: 0,50 euro, half the price of the large size edition. The new tabloid editions seem to be the younger readers' favourite. They aim readers aged 20 to 39 years. The Alexander Springer Group considers to launch tabloid dailies in 2006 in various European countries (East Europe but perhaps also France). In Poland the tabloid Fakt launched in 2003 is very successful.

Journalist Schools in France
In this field there is certainly a good deal to be done, especially as to a new organisation and new methods taking into account the present shortcomings of the journalism as well as new developments which already work in other countries. Teaching will have to fit new conditions of the press.

Conclusion

To conclude I would like to quote the Financial Times (December 2004): at present the three biggest French national dailies find themselves in a gale which " reflects a paralysing entirety of structural and cyclic problems : high printing costs, " antediluvian " trade-unions, closing down of booths and other selling places, a weak and ageing readership, a too slow progress in advertising incomings, the proliferation of free papers and information sources on line … making up an economically indigestible cocktail ".
I am afraid the Financial Times does summarize very well the present situation of the French press.

Newspaper publishing in France still seems to hesitate how to reverse the present stagnation and yet new approaches are starting off. I do not want to finish with a too pessimistic view of the future of the French press. Many efforts are going on right now to take up the challenge: improve editorial contents, not betray the readers' confidence, remain independent, defend freedom of the press... I think journalists do understand how much information is not reliable today and know the quality of the citizen debate depends on the quality of information.

As Hubert Beuve-Méry, founder of Le Monde always recalled: " Facts are sacred, the opinion is free ".

French newspapers on the web :

Audit & Statistics on the web :



Else Delaunay
IFLA Newspapers Section

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