Media News - Thursday, October 02, 2008
France: Sarkozy plans to shake up France’s ailing newspapers
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will launch crisis talks Thursday to
save France's ailing newspaper industry, amid union concerns that he
could loosen ownership laws, allowing his television baron friends to
buy into the national press. Sarkozy, who is nicknamed the
'télé-président' for his media obsession and controversial influence
over key parts of the TV and press, recently warned that 'democracy
cannot function with a press permanently on the edge of an economic
precipice'. The French press, among the least profitable in Europe, is
lurching from crisis to crisis. The daily circulation of all French
national papers totals 8m - half that of the UK and one third of
Germany. The biggest daily seller in France is the sports paper
L'Equipe. French newspapers' combined turnover plummeted from EUR 1.145bn
in 2000 to EUR 848m last year, and crises have hit dailies such as
Le Monde, Libération and Le Figaro. It costs more to print a national
paper in France than its European neighbours because printworks are
tightly controlled by the communist union, Le Livre, which has rigid
hours and protections. Labyrinthine state controls of newspaper kiosks
mean it is hard to find French papers on sale, especially beyond Paris.
The French state gives EUR 1.5bn in direct and indirect state aid to the
press each year. Keen to cut that budget, Sarkozy has ordered
discussions on distribution, the role of journalists in society, and
competition with free papers and the internet. (The Guardian)
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