Results matching “the bad french”

"We have committed $25 million over five years to the Knight News Challenge because we believe in media innovation through experimentation," says Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation's president and CEO. "Each winning project is an experiment with the potential to transform how we practice journalism in the digital age."

For the past two years French free-daily, Ouest-France has been able to attract young readers and maintain high readership. 

According to Herve Barbot, Marketing Research & Development Manager at Ouest-France, "Many young people don't have newspapers at home, so they cannot read them even if they want. That's why we deliver our newspaper for free to schools and universities." 

Bertrand Pecquerie wrote in an article in Le Monde yesterday that the French newspaper industry is in crisis and, worryingly, turning to the State for help. Newspapers have been subsidized in France for the past ten years and, in those ten years, the situation has not improved, it has actually worsened.

Pecquerie believes that there are four core problems facing the industry and these are not being addressed. The four core issues are method, diagnosis, objective and means.

France's newspaper industry is in crises and President Nicholas Sarkozy is launching talks to look into alleviating the situation. There will be a two month industry consultation period led by a one of Sarkozy's former Elysee advisers.

However, unions are reportedly concerned Sarkozy could loosen ownership laws, allowing his television baron friends to buy into the national press. Sarkozy, is known as the "télé-président" due to his media fixation and his close relationship with key figures within the media.

The French press is one of the least profitable in Europe, the daily circulation of all French national papers is just 8 million, which is half that of the UK and one third of Germany. French newspapers' combined turnover fell from €1.145bn (£905 million) in 2000 to €848 million last year.

It also costs more to print a national newspaper in France than in most of its European neighbours due to the Union Le Livre's importance in this sector, it insists on strict working hours and conditions for its members. It is also difficult to buy a newspaper in France because Labyrinthine state controls newspaper kiosks. The press already receive €1.5bn in direct and indirect state each year

Le Monde's editor, Eric Fottorino, has called for Sarkozy to make it easier for the public to buy a copy of a newspaper.

Sarkozy reportedly favours loosening French laws to allow media organisation to own a TV station, a major radio network and a major daily newspaper.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

There is an interesting article today on the Monday Note site that examines the integrated newsroom business model. The author, Frederic Filloux, was part of the team behind 20 Minutes and spent 12 years at Liberation, ultimately becoming the Editor-In-Chief. He now works as editor for the Norwegian group Schibsted.

He puts together some insightful figures about the cost of a large national newsroom:

* Cost of a journalist (including benefits and expenses) = €60,000
* Total cost of running a newsroom =  €10 million
* Per month costs = €830,000
* Average revenue per unique visitors per month appears = €0,10 to €0,25
* €830,000 costs requires 8.3 million Unique Visitors per month to break-even
* The French print edition of 20 Minutes made €45m in 2007. Each reader generates €18 per year for the newspaper.
* Online newsite readers generate approximately €1,2 per year (if a well-read site)

Looking at these figures, Filloux believes that "news is no longer able to sustain itself." He thinks it is now about seeking out "alternative subsidy streams" to support the news gathering and that "corporate money will inevitably percolate into news economics through service contracts, requests for expertise, corporate communication assignments." However, investment banks and the city do not like subsidised business models, so can newspaper businesses carry on being publicly traded on the stock market?

For the full debate and more detail, follow the link.

Source: Monday Notes

Canada's Globe and Mail published a scoop on Saturday claiming it had received a secret Nato document which disclosed that Taliban insurgents were better prepared than French troops during last month's controversial battle in Afghanistan. However, Nato and French Government officials deny the very existence of any such document and strongly dismissed the substance of the report and article.

During the controversial battle last month, ten French troops were killed in an ambush in one of the most shocking attacks on foreign troops since the fighting in Afghanistan began. The incident has shocked France and brought France's very presence in Afghanistan into question.

Since the story broke there has been claim and counter claim between Canada's Global and Mail and French and Nato officials. The Editors Weblog decided to get to the heart of the matter, and spoke to Colin MacKenzie, Managing Editor of News for the Globe and Mail about the controversy surrounding the article.

EW: Can you confirm if the document you received was an email correspondence or a "secret Nato report"? And is there a real difference for you? 

CM: The document in question is not electronic, and bears no resemblance to an email. Any document we think may be newsworthy is assessed based on its contents, provenance, and the authority of the author, among other things, not on the medium with which it was created or conveyed. In this case, it was on paper, and clearly a detailed and official document. Emails are obviously more easily subject to manipulation, but even there, reporting can usually determine whether an email is authentic.

EW: What mechanisms do you have in place to check sources and how would you rate the source in terms of reliability?  
 
CM: Editors are in constant conversation with reporters about the reliability of sourcing for any particular story. In this case, we are confident in the authenticity of the NATO document in question and that we accurately reported on the nature and contents of that document.

EW: Is there any connection between the timing of the publication of the article and the French vote on the war in Afghanistan this week?

We published the information as soon as we were able to confirm it to our satisfaction. That being said we can't attribute motive, except as an aside, our source was not likely to be fully au fait with the intricacies of the French legislative agenda.
 
EW: How, as a Managing Editor, do you manage your reporters when they come to you with a scoop? Also, how do you react when the story comes under attack, for example, the allegations that the secret report is in fact just an email?
 
CM: Well, we have considerable experience with such allegations. Typically, we ask a reporter to share his or her sourcing, we try to assess any hidden agendas, and we determine accuracy by interviewing others who are aware of the subject at hand.

EW: Why do you think the French media are downplaying the story and not investigating it further (the story received minimal coverage in France and equal weight was given to the denials of the French Minister of Defense, Hervé Morin)?
 
CM: Not to sound flippant, but I would argue there are two things at play. First of all, the story was not original to any of the French media, and there is a universal tendency to be less enthused about others' work. Second, it broke over a weekend, when in most newsrooms there are fewer people to pursue stories aggressively, especially those that require official comment.

EW: What action are you taking next? How do you foresee this story playing itself out? Will you ask French authorities to respond to the main issues revealed in the Globe & Mail article (lack of ammunitions, lack of communication tools)?
 
CM: Our reporter in Afghanistan is primarily pursuing stories about Canada's involvement in the country. Without sounding too parochial, it falls a little outside our readers' interests.
That being said, we continue to report on developments in France's involvement in Afghanistan. The French Government has already responded to the main points of our report, and we have published that response as well as the facts as we know them. The government has since changed elements of its response, and we'll report that too.
 
Sources: Globe and Mail, TimesOnline

New French weekly newspaper Vendredi will be launched on October 17, and will feature the "best information" found on the Web, Le Figaro reported.

Jacques Rosselin, co-founder of the project, said the online information industry has reached "maturity" and that the paper will focus on the "sharp expertise" found on certain Web sites and blogs. The title will be printed in eight pages.

It is still not known how much the cover price will be. Le Figaro wrote that around 10 journalists would be working for Vendredi and the estimated paid circulation is 50,000 copies. Future plans may include similar launches in Spain and the United States, Le Figaro reported.

Rosselin also founded the magazine Courrier International and local television operator Antennes Locales.

Edited by Alisa Zykova

Sources: Le Figaro

German retail brand "Metro" is considering suing free paper group Metro International following its victory in Hungary.

Hungarian Metro was forced to change its name to Metropol following a lawsuit launched by the German retailer. It successfully argued that the Hungarian newspaper"s use of the name was an infringement of its copyright.

Business website, B2B Köln, reports that it is looking at the French and Italian markets first.
Other contested markets could be Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Russia, Belgium, the UK and Poland.

The German Metro Cash & Carry group has been in the market for 40 years, while the free newspaper group has been in operation for just 13 years.

A court in Hamburg has taken already barred Metro International from publishing under the "Metro" title in the German market.

Metro Cash and Carry is part of the Metro Group. Other brands are Makro, Media Markt, Saturn, Galeria Kaufhaus and Real.

Source: Newspaper Innovation via IFRA Executive News Service

As the media landscape changes, seven longstanding competitors in the French newspaper market have been working together in an unprecedented way to test whether e-paper is a viable device to take newspapers forward. However, now that the test is over, each seems to have formed a different opinion on how to take this new publishing platform to the next level.

Electronic paper, or e-paper, is a portable display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. It can be refreshed or rewritten countless times, thus negating the need for dead-tree paper. With rapidly rising paper, printing and distribution costs, such a device could be a boon to newspapers everywhere - if readers accept the device.

To gauge public demand for e-paper, the three main national French dailies, Le Monde, Le Figaro, and Libération; the sports paper L'Équipe; the tabloid, Le Parisien; the business paper, Les Échos; and the entertainment-magazine Télérama, joined forces with telecommunications company France Telecom to test the Read&Go e-paper device. The survey group consisted of 120 people and took place over the course of the past few months. Having recently ended the test, Le Monde, Les Echos and Le Figaro revealed their findings.

Le Monde's sceptical optimism

According to General Director of LeMonde Interactif, Dao Nguyen, newspapers have felt compelled to design their own e-paper device. At the IFRA International E-Reading Conference in Paris, Nguyen said that the reading experience of newspaper content on the current devices in the market - for example the Kindle and Sony E-Reader - is unsatisfactory, going so far as to say, "There is no newspaper experience on a Kindle. They have shoved a newspaper into a book device." Nguyen feels that the makers of the current e-readers did not consider newspapers at all when designing the devices, commenting, "I don't blame them. Amazon is interested in selling books through Kindle."

However, despite these issues in its conception, Le Monde reported some positive findings from their e-paper trial with Read&Go. For instance, e-reader users read the device in the same fashion as they read a newspaper's print edition, ie, spending 20 to 30 minutes reading the news in one sitting. These numbers are much higher - and better for advertising revenue - than those of reader time spent with online editions, where people scan headlines and hop in and out throughout the day. Furthermore, the trial users were positive about the experience. According to an article in the New York Times, at least one user of the Read&Go device enjoyed the fact that it is both usable in direct sunlight, something difficult with a computer screen, as well as in complete darkness, which is impossible with a printed newspaper.

Following the test, Le Monde said it needs time to crunch the numbers and consider the statistics before fully committing, but that early indications are positive. Nguyen hinted that Le Monde feels confident that the relationship it has with its readers is strong enough that the paper will be able to sell a branded reader, possibly with subscriptions to Le Monde content. However, Nguyen refused to confirm if Le Monde is taking its e-paper experiment forward.

Les Echos: Want newspapers to work together

Contrary to the branded approach voiced by Le Monde, Philipe Jannet, Electronic Publishing Editor of Les Échoes believes that newspapers need to work together if they are to succeed with the new platform. During his presentation at the Ifra conference, he reported that users like to access many different news sources and therefore, a proprietary device will not work. Jannet believes that the newspapers must "own" the news they produce and pool their resources with other newspapers, thus having access to a pool of articles, much in the same way as Google News or Yahoo! News.

Les Échoes, according to Jannet, wants newspapers to group together to "sell articles", for example if a user is interested in the Cannes Film Festival, the news sources can provide the client with all the information they have on it in bulk. He expects a future where newspapers do not necessarily just sell newspapers with the new technology, but sell individual articles.

Le Figaro: E-Papers are the "Third Possibility"

In the same way that Jannet feels that newspapers should bundle content with other providers on e-readers, Clement Courvoisier, Digital Marketing Director of Le Figaro, was happy to have joined forces with the group of seven newspapers in order to test the device. Not only did it allow Le Figaro to share the expense of the experiment, but it also showed Le Figaro that there exists a "third possibility" to print papers and online editions.

Courvoisier does not expect a significant amount of extra work for newsroom staffers if the platform is introduced, as content is uploaded to the e-reader device much like it is to Le Figaro's website. Courvoisier stated that the there had "not yet" been any newsroom reorganisation due to the experiment, but he stated that it is still only in test phase.

During the test, no extra content was produced for this platform, Le Figaro used online articles for Read&Go; once again this could change further down the line if the product is released.

As at Le Monde, the visual style will be closer to that of the print edition. This is interesting as the news will be electronically provided making it conceptually closer to online, but perhaps because of its "hand-held" nature, the newspapers want it to reflect the print edition.

One consumer, multiple reading devices?

Despite the positive trial results, the path ahead remains unclear. A limited release of the product to test the waters seems the most sensible way to go - and a comprehensive advertising campaign - this is the type of product that consumers will either fully embrace or completely reject.

During her speech, Le Monde's Nguyen envisioned a future in which individuals have many devices for reading, but this seems an inconvenient and expensive prospect. What is more likely is that one device that meets all consumers various needs, including newspaper reading, will be the most successful.

Source: IFRA International E-Reading Conference, New York Times

French regional daily newspaper Centre Presse announces that as it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, it is shifting to tabloid format. The paper, based in the Vienne department, will also undergo a redesign and will be smaller, lighter, more practical and more colorful, said chief editor Richard Lavigne.

According to a study released on Monday by Audipresse, a company which audits French newspaper circulations, the daily French press has seen a significant increase in readership.  

There has been a 4.4 percent surge in readership.  Readership of national dailies has risen by 7.4 percent, placing daily readership at 8,773,000.  In spite of the increase in readership, sales have seen a decline of 1.8 percent in the last year.

Free dailies have seen an increase of 12.5 percent, including Direct Soir, Direct Matin and Direct Bretagne, placing daily readership at 4,188,000.

Every newspaper saw an increase in readership: 7,4 percent for Le Figaro, 1.8 percent for Libération and Le Monde, 13.2 percent for Le Parisien, and a 10.6 percent for L'Equipe.

20 Minutes is the most read daily, placing it ahead of L'Equipe, Métro, Le Parisien and Le Monde. 

Xavier Dordor, director of Audipresse has cited one of the reasons for the increase in readership as local elections.  The elections have increased public interest, therefore augmenting the sales of national papers.  Increased sales are also attributed to the coverage of topics that most French people have been preoccupied with over the last year, such as inflation and buying power.
 
Source: CB News, Le Monde.fr

According to Médiamétrie-NetRatings, a French net-rating company, Le Figaro.fr is now the top website in France for news.  It tied for first place with Yahoo! News.  

Le Figaro.fr was reported to have 4.2 million unique visitors, placing it ahead of its rival, Le Monde.fr.

The sight saw a spike in readership in July due to the release of Ingrid Betancourt on July 2.  New improvements to the website such as new themes, video content and blogs, have also contributed to the increase in readership.  

Le Figaro.fr recently launched a new site entitled "Scope," a Paris city guide.

Source:  Le Figaro.fr

See Also:
France: Le Monde's revamped website overshadowed by Le Figaro's increasing popularity