Le Monde

Le Monde (French pronunciation: [lə mɔ̃d] (listen); lit. 'The World') is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website since 19 December 1995, and is often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-French-speaking countries. It is considered one of the French newspapers of record, along with Libération, and Le Figaro. It should not be confused with the monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique, of which Le Monde has 51% ownership, but which is editorially independent. A Reuters Institute poll in 2021 in France found that "Le Monde is the most trusted national newspaper".[5]

Le Monde
First issue on 19 December 1944
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBerliner[1]
Owner(s)Groupe Le Monde
PublisherLouis Dreyfus
EditorJérôme Fenoglio
Staff writers165
Founded1944 (1944)
Political alignmentLiberal socialism[lower-alpha 1]
Language
  • French
  • English (digital translation)[2][3]
Headquarters67–69 Avenue Pierre Mendès-France
75707 Paris Cedex 13
CountryFrance
Circulation393,109 (total, 2020)
360,000 (digital, 2020)[4]
ISSN0395-2037 (print)
1950-6244 (web)
OCLC number833476932
Websitewww.lemonde.fr
  • Media of France
  • List of newspapers

Le Monde was founded by Hubert Beuve-Méry at the request of Charles de Gaulle (as Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic) on 19 December 1944, shortly after the Liberation of Paris, and published continuously since its first edition.

The paper's journalistic side has a collegial form of organization, in which most journalists are not only tenured, but financial stakeholders in the enterprise as well, and participate in the elections of upper management and senior executives. In the 1990s and 2000s, La Vie-Le Monde Group expanded under editor Jean-Marie Colombani with a number of acquisitions. However, its profitability was not sufficient to cover the large debt loads it took on to fund this expansion, and it sought new investors in 2010 to keep the company out of bankruptcy. In June 2010, investors Matthieu Pigasse, Pierre Bergé, and Xavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.[6]

In contrast to other world newspapers such as The New York Times, Le Monde was traditionally focused on offering analysis and opinion, as opposed to being a newspaper of record. Hence, it was considered less important for the paper to offer maximum coverage of the news than to offer thoughtful interpretation of current events. For instance, on the 10th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, the newspaper directly implicated François Mitterrand, who was the French president at the time, in the operation. In recent years the paper has established a greater distinction between fact and opinion.[7]

History

Le Monde was founded in 1944,[8][9] at the request of General Charles de Gaulle, after the German army had been driven from Paris during World War II. The paper took over the headquarters and layout of Le Temps, which had been the most important newspaper in France, but its reputation had suffered during the Occupation.[10] Beuve-Méry reportedly demanded total editorial independence as the condition for his taking on the project.

In December 2006, on the 60th anniversary of its publishing début, Le Monde moved into new headquarters in Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui, 13th arrondissement of Paris.[11] The building—formerly the headquarters of Air France—was refashioned by Bouygues from the designs of Christian de Portzamparc. The building's façade has an enormous fresco adorned by doves (drawn by Plantu) flying towards Victor Hugo, symbolising freedom of the press.

In 2008, Le Monde was found guilty of defamation for saying that Spanish football club FC Barcelona was connected to a doctor involved in steroid use. The Spanish court fined the newspaper nearly $450,000.[12]

In April 2016, two Le Monde reporters were denied visas to visit Algeria as part of the French Prime Minister press convoy to Algeria. The denial of visas to Le Monde reporters caused some French media to boycott the event, including Libération, Le Figaro, and France Inter. Le Monde had previously published the names of Algerian officials directly involved with the Panama Papers scandal.[13][14] Coverage of the scandal in Le Monde included a front-page photo of President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika.[14] However, the paper clarified in its next edition that Bouteflika was not directly implicated, but maintained that his associates were. Bouteflika opened a libel suit against Le Monde, which was later dropped after the newspaper apologised.[15]

In 2014, Groupe Le Monde announced that Le Monde would move into a new headquarters, also in the 13th arrondissement, around 2017, with space for 1,200 people.[16]

Ownership

In June 2010, investors Matthieu Pigasse, Pierre Bergé, and Xavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.[6] In October 2018, staff learned that Pigasse had sold 49% of his stake in the company to Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský. Le Monde's Independency Group, a minority shareholder that aims to protect the paper's editorial independence, had not been informed of the sale, and asked Pigasse and Křetínský to sign an "approval agreement" that would give the Independency Group the right to approve or reject any controlling shareholder. As of September 2019, they had not done so.[17][18]

Publication schedule

Le Monde is published around midday, and the cover date on the masthead is the following day's. For instance, the issue released at midday on 15 March shows 16 March on the masthead. It is available on newsstands in France on the day of release, and received by mail subscribers on the masthead date. The Saturday issue is a double one, for Saturday and Sunday.

Thus the latest edition can be found on newsstands from Monday to Friday included, while subscribers will receive it from Tuesday to Saturday included.

LeMonde.fr

Le Monde was among the first French newspapers on the web, with its first web edition on 19 December 1995.[19] It is among the 50 most visited websites in France.[20]

Starting in the 2000s Le Monde allowed its subscribers to publish a blog on its website. These blogs were called the "les blogs abonnées du Monde.fr". On 10 April 2019, Le Monde announced that it would be closing its blog platform on 5 June 2019.[21][22] Although the reasons for the closing of the blogs were unclear, it could be linked to the dominance of social networks like Facebook.[23]

Le Monde launched an English language edition of its news website on 7 April 2022, featuring its articles translated from French.[2][3]

Politics

In 1981, Le Monde backed the election of socialist François Mitterrand, partly on the grounds that the alternation of the political party in government would be beneficial to the democratic character of the state.[24] The paper endorsed centre-right candidate Édouard Balladur in the 1995 presidential election, and Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party candidate, in the 2007 presidential election.

Reception

According to the Mitrokhin Archive investigators, Le Monde (KGB codename VESTNIK, "messenger") was the KGB's key outlet for Soviet disinformation in the French media. The archive identified two senior Le Monde journalists and several contributors who were used in the operations (see also the article on Russian influence operations in France).[25]

Michel Legris, a former journalist with the paper, wrote Le Monde tel qu'il est (Le Monde as it is) in 1976. According to him, the journal minimized the atrocities committed by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge.

In their 2003 book titled La Face cachée du Monde (The Hidden face of "Le Monde"), authors Pierre Péan and Philippe Cohen alleged that Colombani and then-editor Edwy Plenel had shown, amongst other things, partisan bias and had engaged in financial dealings that compromised the paper's independence. It also accused the paper of dangerously damaging the authority of the French state by having revealed various political scandals (notably corruption scandals surrounding Jacques Chirac, the "Irish of Vincennes" affair, and the sinking of a Greenpeace boat, the Rainbow Warrior, by French intelligence under President François Mitterrand). This book remains controversial, but attracted much attention and media coverage in France and around the world at the time of its publication. Following a lawsuit, the authors and the publisher agreed in 2004 not to proceed to any reprinting.

Directors
  • Hubert Beuve-Méry (1944–1969)
  • Jacques Fauvet (1969–1981)
  • Claude Julien (1981–1982)
  • André Laurens (1982–1985)
  • André Fontaine (1985–1991)
  • Jacques Lesourne (1991–1994)
  • Jean-Marie Colombani (1994–2007)
  • Éric Fottorino (2007–2010)
  • Érik Izraelewicz (2011–2012)
  • Alain Frachon (2012–2013)
  • Natalie Nougayrède (2013–2014)
  • Jérôme Fenoglio (2014–)

Recent circulation history
Year199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016
Total circulation 390,840392,772405,983407,085389,249371,803360,610350,039358,655340,131323,039319,022325,295318,236303,432298,529292,054289,555
2017201820192020
301,528302,624325,565393,109

Prix littéraire du Monde

The Prix littéraire du Monde has been awarded annually by Le Monde since 2013. It is awarded at the beginning of September to a novel published at the start of the French literary season—or "rentrée littéraire". The winner of the prize is chosen by a jury made up of journalists—literary journalists from Le Monde des livres, cultural or other editorial staff—chaired by the director of the newspaper.[26]

Winners
Year Author Title Publisher Notes Ref(s)
2013 Yasmina Reza Heureux les heureux Éditions Stock A "prix étranger" was also awarded to
Kevin Powers for The Yellow Birds		 [27]
2014 Emmanuel Carrère Le Royaume Éditions P.O.L [28]
2015 Agnès Desarthe Ce cœur changeant Éditions de l'Olivier [29]
2016 Ivan Jablonka Laëtitia ou la Fin des hommes Éditions du Seuil [30]
2017 Alice Zeniter L'Art de perdre Éditions Flammarion [31]
2018 Jérôme Ferrari À son image Actes Sud [32]
2019 Cécile Coulon Une bête au paradis Éditions de l'Iconoclaste [33]
2020 Francesca Serra Elle a menti pour les ailes Éditions Anne Carrière [34]
2021 Jean-Claude Grumberg Jacqueline Jacqueline Éditions du Seuil [35]

See also
  • List of French newspapers
  • Libération
  • El País, newspaper in Spain inspired by Le Monde
  • Jean-Louis de Rambures, journalist
  • Henri Pierre, journalist

Notes
  1. Le Monde is a representative French left-liberal media and is also considered a "social liberal" or "social democrat".

References
  1. "The Berliner format". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  2. "Le Monde launches digital English language edition, partly translated by AI". Agence France-Presse. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022 – via The Guardian.
  3. Berthelot, Benoit (7 April 2022). "Le Monde Launches English Website on Eve of French Election". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  4. "Le Monde".
  5. Alice Antheaume (2021). "France". Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. Willsher, Kim (28 June 2010). "Tycoons given go-ahead for financial takeover of Le Monde". The Guardian.
  7. "Portrait d'un quotidien" [Portrait of a daily] (PDF). Le Monde (in French). June 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2012.
  8. "The press in France". BBC. 11 November 2006. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  9. "Historical development of the media in France" (PDF). McGraw-Hill Education. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  10. Thogmartin, Clyde (1998). "The Golden Age and the War Years". The National Daily Press of France. Summa Publications, Inc. p. 113. ISBN 1-883479-20-7.
  11. "Mentions légales". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 5 July 2016. Editeur SOCIETE ÉDITRICE DU MONDE [...] Dont le siège social est situé 80, boulevard Auguste-Blanqui – 75707 Paris cedex 13
  12. "Barcelona wins lawsuit against French newspaper Le Monde". USA Today. 15 January 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  13. "French media boycott Valls' Algiers visit". Deutsche Welle. 9 April 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  14. "Algeria bans French journalist in row over Panama Papers". Reuters. 8 April 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  15. "Algeria leader drops Panama Papers libel suit vs Le Monde". Yahoo! News. Agence France-Presse. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  16. "Un nouveau siège social pour le journal "Le Monde" en 2017". L'Express (in French). Agence France Presse. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. Willsher, Kim (10 September 2019). "Le Monde journalists warn of threat to editorial independence". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  18. "" We, "Le Monde" journalists... "". Le Monde. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  19. Claire Hemery, "Quand la presse française s'emparait du web", La revue des médias, Institut national de l'audiovisuel, 19 December 2013
  20. Top sites in France Archived 25 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine - Alexa Rank
  21. "La fin annoncée des blogs abonnées du Monde.fr, la fin du blog paysages sur les blogs leMonde.fr" (in French). Blogs le Monde on LeMonde.fr. 14 April 2019. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  22. "LE MONDE supprime tous les blogs qu'il héberge" (in French). Blogs le Monde on LeMonde.fr. 14 April 2019. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  23. "La fin du blog paysages sur les blogs LeMonde.fr – Das Ende des Blog " paysages " auf den Blogs von Le Monde.fr" (in French and German). Blogs le Monde on LeMonde.fr. 23 April 2019. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  24. Benson, Rodney (Spring 2004). "La fin du Monde? Tradition and Change in the French press" (PDF). French Politics, Culture & Society. Vol. 22, no. 1. pp. 108–126 [p. 111, and footnote 13, pp. 123–124]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2019 – via New York University.
  25. Christopher Andrew, Vasili Mitrokhin: The Mitrokhin Archive. The KGB in Europe and the West. London, Penguin Books 2000, ISBN 978-0-14-028487-4, p. 613.
  26. Birnbaum, Jean (8 September 2015). "Le Monde remet son prix littéraire". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  27. Birnbaum, Jean (22 May 2013). "Les livres du "Monde"". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  28. "Le Royaume d'Emmanuel Carrère reçoit le prix littéraire du Monde". Libération (in French). Agence France-Presse. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  29. "Ce cœur changeant d'Agnès Desarthe, prix littéraire du Monde 2015". Le Monde (in French). 9 September 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  30. Loret, Eric (7 September 2016). "Le Monde remet son prix littéraire à Laëtitia ou la Fin des hommes d'Ivan Jablonka". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  31. Birnbaum, Jean; Leyris, Raphaëlle (6 September 2017). "Le Monde remet son prix littéraire à Alice Zeniter pour L'Art de perdre". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  32. Birnbaum, Jean; Leyris, Raphaëlle (5 September 2018). "Le Monde remet son prix littéraire à Jérôme Ferrari pour A son image". Le Monde.fr (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  33. Leyris, Raphaëlle; Birnbaum, Jean (4 November 2019). "Le Monde remet son prix littéraire à Cécile Coulon pour Une bête au Paradis". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  34. Birnbaum, Jean (7 September 2020). "Francesca Serra, Prix littéraire Le Monde 2020 : "Aller voir les monstres d'angoisse qu'il y a dans les profondeurs de la superficialité"". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  35. Weill, Nicolas (8 September 2021). "Jean-Claude Grumberg remporte le prix littéraire Le Monde 2021 pour Jacqueline Jacqueline". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 14 November 2021.

Further reading
  • Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers (1980) pp 202–10
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