Marianne (magazine)

Marianne (French pronunciation: [maʁjan]) is a weekly Paris-based French news magazine founded in 1997 by Jean-François Kahn and Maurice Szafran. Its original political slant was described as left-wing sovereigntist. Since 2018, its editor-in-chief is Natacha Polony. In 2021 its editorial line was frequently compared to Valeurs actuelles by left-wing media.[1]

For the first Marianne magazine, see Marianne (magazine, 1932–1940).
Front page
The 14 April 2007 front page of
Marianne (bestseller)
TypeWeekly magazine
FormatCompact
Owner(s)Czech Media Invest
Editor-in-chiefNatacha Polony (redaction chief)
Founded1997
Political alignmentLeft-wing sovereignist
HeadquartersParis
Circulation135,536 (2020)
ISSN1275-7500
Websitewww.marianne.net

History and profile

Marianne was created in 1997[2] by Jean-François Kahn[3][4] with Maurice Szafran as editorialist. It takes its name from an earlier, now defunct magazine. The main shareholder was the company of Robert Assaraf with 49.4% of the shares.[5] Czech Media Invest, owner of Czech News Center, acquired most of the magazine from Yves de Chaisemartin in 2018.[6]

Marianne claims a circulation of 300,000 copies per week, reaching a peak of 580,000, with the French news magazine record-breaker "The Real Sarkozy" in April 2007.[7] During the period of 2007–2008 the circulation of the magazine was 275,000 copies.[8] It was 264,000 copies in 2010[9] and about 146,000 in late 2016.[10]

2007 presidential election
Main article: 2007 French presidential election

During the 2007 French presidential election Marianne's editors Jean-François Kahn, Maurice Szafran and Nicolas Domenach openly supported the centre-right candidate François Bayrou, although at the same time they exposed "the editors' favourite" and advocated for French Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal.

Furthermore, they conducted a strong anti-Sarkozy campaign in the magazine including a special issue released on April 14~20 (#521), the day before the vote, arguing that right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy was "insane" (which was the title of a previous issue)[11] in a negative portrait "of all dangers" (de tous les dangers). Such aggressive practice rather common in Great Britain and the United States is unusual in France.

Issue #521 "The Real Sarkozy" (Le Vrai Sarkozy) was named after the popular anti-Sarkozy propaganda video first released on July 5, 2006 in online services – as Dailymotion (+2,132,686 views) French counterpart of YouTube (+927,770) – by left wing supporters group RéSo (close to the French Socialist Party's Dominique Strauss-Kahn wing) author of the "AntiSarko" 2005 online campaign, which became the magazine's best seller (580,000 copies).[7] It was since then made online for free in the magazine's website.[12] The issue sold well with an exceptional out of print and two reprints,[7] but some journalists argued that the criticisms against Sarkozy actually strengthened Sarkozy's supporters per the victimization process.

The previous issue's (#520) cover titled "Sarkozy's fault: he chose Bush's America against Chirac's France" (La faute de Sarkozy: Il choisit l'Amérique de Bush contre la France de Chirac)[13] as a reference to Sarkozy having been one of the few French politicians initially supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq which has been described by the French far-left and left-wing as a "fault",[14] as well as by a part of the Gaullist right-wing as a "mistake".

See also
  • Marianne, the publication's namesake and symbol of France

References
  1. Bock, Pauline (16 June 2021). "L'hebdo Marianne se voit-il encore à gauche ?". Arrêt sur Images (in French).
  2. "Historical development of the media in France" (PDF). McGraw-Hill Education. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  3. Lawrence D. Kritzman; Brian J. Reilly (2007). The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought. Columbia University Press. p. 722. ISBN 978-0-231-10790-7. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  4. "France -- Media Guide 2008" (PDF). Open Source Center. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  5. esj-lille.fr Archived 2006-11-16 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's Czech Media Invest Bids On French Weekly Marianne". Prague Business Journal. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  7. 80,000 new units of Marianne's issue about "The True Sarkozy" Archived 2007-08-23 at the Wayback Machine, Marianne, 19 April 2007
  8. Anne Austin; et al. (2008). "Western Europe Market & Media Fact" (PDF). ZenithOptimedia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  9. "Western Europe Media Facts. 2011 Edition" (PDF). ZenithOptimedia. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  10. Partenariats: Mediapart attaque Marianne. Dommage colatéral à Libé, Arrêt Sur Images, 1 February 2017
  11. Marianne #? Sarkozy est-il fou?, 27 November 2006)
  12. Marianne #521, 14 April 2007
  13. Marianne #520, 7 April 2007
  14. "Controversy around Sarkozy's trip, AFP French press agency / TF1-LCI private national channel, 11 September 2006". Archived from the original on 3 November 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2007.
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