Good news for France's newspapers: readership up in 2008

An article published yesterday in Le Monde describes it as the "paradox of the century", that French newspapers have their highest ever readership levels despite the doom and gloom currently surrounding the printed press. Xavier Ternisien reports that according to the "Etude de la presse d'information quotidienne", or EPIQ, studies have revealed that the number of people reading the news has increased. Interestingly, it is not just when taking into account online readers that the figures rise; Ternisen reports that daily print editions saw an increase of 1.5 million readers in 2008 compared to 2007.

Going into further detail, EPIQ found that 48.6% of French people aged 15 and above read at least one daily title, and also pointed out that 2008 was a particularly newsworthy year, with events such as the US presidential election. Free newspapers came out on top with 4.4 million readers, and even the regional press saw a 2.6% growth.  The most popular free daily was 20 minutes, whilst l'Equipe was the most read paid daily. These figures portray a French press greatly in contrast to the image of it as a struggling entity bailed out by the government, and indicate a problem with the newspaper business model rather than a lack of interest in the news.

Source: Le Monde