The 8 November 2005 front page of Le Monde |
|
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Berliner |
| Owner | La Vie-Le Monde |
| Publisher | Louis Dreyfus |
| Editor | Erik Izraelewicz |
| Staff writers | 20 |
| Founded | 1944 |
| Political alignment | Centre-Left |
| Language | French |
| Headquarters | Bd Auguste-Blanqui 80, F-75707 Paris Cedex 13 |
| Circulation | 331,837[1] |
| ISSN | 0395-2037 |
| Official website | www.lemonde.fr |
Le Monde (French pronunciation: [lə mɔ̃d]; English: The World) is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944. It was founded at the request of General Charles de Gaulle after the German army was driven from Paris during World War II, and took over the headquarters and layout of Le Temps, which was the most important newspaper in France before but whose reputation had suffered during the Occupation.[2] Beuve-Méry reportedly demanded total editorial independence as the condition for his taking on the project.
Le Monde is the principal publication of La Vie-Le Monde Group. It should not be confused with the monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique, of which Le Monde has 51% ownership, but which is editorially independent. It reports an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which are sold abroad. It has been available on the Internet since 19 December 1995, and is often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-French-speaking countries. Its current chief editor (rédacteur en chef) is Erik Izraelewicz. Plantu is one of several political cartoonists who contribute to the paper, and his work is often featured on the front page above the fold.
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 has sought new investors in 2010 to keep the company out of bankruptcy. It has been suggested that a condition for a bailout might be the loss of Le Monde's famous control by its own journalists.[3] In June 2010, investors Matthieu Pigasse, Pierre Bergé, and Xavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.[4] In December, it was reported that after conflicts with the new investors, board chairman and director of publication Éric Fottorino would depart.[5]
Contents |
Le Monde was often described in the past as left-wing, but its editorial line may be more appropriately described nowadays as centre-left. In 1981, it backed the election of Socialist François Mitterrand on the grounds that alternation of the political party in government would be beneficial to the country. The paper endorsed Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate, in the 2007 presidential election.
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 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 cover "all the news that's fit to print" (the motto of The New York Times) than to offer thoughtful interpretation of current events. Writers of lead reporting articles did not hesitate to provide commentary or venture predictions. In recent years, however, the paper has established a greater distinction between fact and opinion.
According The Mitrokhin Archive investigators, Le Monde (KGB codename VESTNIK, "messenger") was KGB's key outlet for spreading anti-American and pro-Soviet disinformation to the French media. The archive identified two senior Le Monde journalists and several contributors who were used in the operations (See also Russian influence operations in France).[6]
Michel Legris wrote in 1976 "Le monde tel qu'il est". According to this former journalist of Le Monde, 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). In one chapter, the authors of the book accused Colombani and Plenel of "xenophilia" and of "not liking France". 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.
Le Monde has been found guilty of defamation for saying that Catalan soccer club FC Barcelona was connected to a doctor involved in steroid use. The court fined the newspaper nearly $450,000 and the French newspaper will have to publish a copy of the court's sentence in both its newspaper and online versions.[7]
| Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circulation | 390,840 | 392,772 | 405,983 | 407,085 | 389,249 | 371,803 | 360,610 | 350,039 | 358,655 | 340,131 | 323,039 |
Le Monde is published around midday, and the 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 Paris and some other parts of France on the day of release, and received by mail subscribers on the masthead date.
Among the famous investigations of Le Monde is one concerning the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. In 1995, on the 10th anniversary of this failed secret operation, the newspaper directly implicated François Mitterrand, who was president at the time, in the operation.
In December 2006, on the 60th anniversary of its publishing début, the journal moved into new headquarters at n°80, Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui.
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 pigeons (drawn by Plantu) flying towards Victor Hugo, symbolising freedom of the press.
