Le Monde
Template:Short description Template:For-multi Template:Expand French Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox newspaper
Template:Lang (Template:IPA; Template:Langnf) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including 40,000 sold abroad. It has been available online since 1995, and it is often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-French-speaking countries. It should not be confused with the monthly publication Template:Lang, of which Template:Lang has 51% ownership but is editorially independent. Template:Lang is considered one of the French newspapers of record, along with Libération and Template:Lang. A Reuters Institute poll in 2021 found that Template:Lang is the most trusted French newspaper.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The paper's journalistic side has a collegial form of organization, in which most journalists are tenured, unionized, and financial stakeholders in the business. While shareholders appoint the company's CEO, the editor is elected by Le MondeTemplate:'s journalists to defend the newsroom's independence.
Le Monde has often broken major scandals, for instance, by directly implicating President François Mitterrand in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand. In contrast to other world newspapers such as The New York Times, Template:Lang was traditionally focused on offering analysis and opinion, as opposed to being a newspaper of record. It de-emphasized maximum coverage of the news in favor of thoughtful interpretation of current events. In recent years the paper has established a greater distinction between fact and opinion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Lang 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 from Nazism, and has published continuously since its first edition. 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 debts it took on to fund this expansion, and it sought new investors in 2010 to keep the company from bankruptcy. In June 2010, French investors Matthieu Pigasse, Pierre Bergé, and Xavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.<ref name="Willsher2010">Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Template:Lang was founded in 1944,<ref name=bbc11>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 Template:Lang, which had been the most important newspaper in France, but its reputation had suffered during the Occupation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Beuve-Méry reportedly demanded total editorial independence as the condition for his taking on the project. Le Monde began publishing a weekly digest edition in English on 23 April 1969.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
According to the Mitrokhin Archive investigators, the KGB has historically tried to use Template:Lang (KGB codename VESTNIK, "messenger") for Soviet disinformation in the French media.<ref>Christopher Andrew, Vasili Mitrokhin: The Mitrokhin Archive. The KGB in Europe and the West. London, Penguin Books 2000, Template:ISBN, p. 613.</ref>
In 1976, Michel Legris, a former Le Monde journalist, published Le Monde tel qu'il est (Le Monde as it is), a book critical of the newspaper. In 2003, another book titled La Face cachée du Monde (The Hidden face of "Le Monde"), written by 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. The book remains controversial, but it attracted much attention and media coverage in France and worldwide at the time of its publication.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In December 2004, on the 60th anniversary of its first publication, Template:Lang moved into new headquarters in Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui, 13th arrondissement of Paris.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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, Template:Lang 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2014, Groupe Le Monde announced that Template:Lang would move into a new headquarters, also in the 13th arrondissement, around 2017, with space for 1,200 people.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2016, two Template:Lang reporters were denied visas to visit Algeria as part of the French Prime Minister press convoy to Algeria. The denial of visas to Template:Lang reporters caused some French media to boycott the event, including Libération, Le Figaro, and France Inter. Template:Lang had previously published the names of Algerian officials directly involved with the Panama Papers scandal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> Coverage of the scandal in Template:Lang included a front-page photo of President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika.<ref name=":0" /> 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 Template:Lang, which was later dropped after the newspaper apologised.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In June 2017, Le Monde was certified as an International Fact-Checking Network member of the Poynter Institute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2023, Le Monde banned fossil fuel advertising to tackle climate change.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Lang is regarded as France's leading newspaper of record.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In November 2023, Le Monde joined with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper trail media and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories<ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> to produce the 'Cyprus Confidential' report on the financial network which supports the regime of Vladimir Putin, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Government officials including Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides<ref name=":72">Template:Cite web</ref> and European lawmakers<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours,<ref name=":72"/> calling for reforms and launching probes.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ownership
In June 2010, investors Matthieu Pigasse, Pierre Bergé, and Xavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.<ref name="Willsher2010"/> In October 2018, staff learned that Pigasse had sold 49% of his stake in the company to Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský. Template:Lang'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. Template:As of, they had not done so.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Publication schedule
Template:Lang 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.
LeMonde.fr
Template:Lang was among the first French newspapers on the web, with its first web edition on 19 December 1995.<ref>Claire Hemery, "Quand la presse française s'emparait du web", La revue des médias, Institut national de l'audiovisuel, 19 December 2013</ref> It is among the 50 most visited websites in France.<ref>Top sites in France Template:Webarchive - Alexa Rank</ref> Starting in the 2000s Template:Lang 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, Template:Lang announced that it would be closing its blog platform on 5 June 2019.<ref name="paysages1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="biosphere">Template:Cite web</ref> Although the reasons for the closing of the blogs were unclear, it could be linked to the dominance of social networks like Facebook.<ref name="paysages2">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Lang launched an English language edition of its news website on 7 April 2022, featuring its articles translated from French.<ref name="AFP English">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Bloomberg English">Template:Cite news</ref>
Social media presence
On January 20, 2025, Le Monde announced its withdrawal from the social network X (formerly Twitter), citing the "intensification of activism" by its owner Elon Musk and the "growing toxicity of discussions" on the platform.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The editorial team emphasized that, although difficult, this decision aligns with their commitment to preserving editorial independence and avoiding contributing to an environment harmful to public debate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Politics
In 1981, Template:Lang 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The paper endorsed centre-right candidate Édouard Balladur in the 1995 French presidential election, and Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party candidate, in the 2007 French presidential election.
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 (since 2014)
Circulation history since 1999
| Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circulation | 325,295 | 390,840 | 392,772 | 405,983 | 407,069 | 389,249 | 371,803 | 360,610 | 350,039 | 358,655 | 340,131 | 323,039 | 319,022 |
| Year | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circulation | 318,236 | 303,432 | 298,529 | 292,054 | 289,555 | 301,528 | 302,624 | 325,565 | 393,109 | 445,894 | 472,767 | 488,802 |
Prix littéraire du Monde
The Prix littéraire du Monde has been awarded annually by Template:Lang 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Winners
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See also
- List of French newspapers
- El País, newspaper in Spain inspired by Le Monde
- Jean-Louis de Rambures, French journalist (1930–2006)
- Henri Pierre, French journalist (1918–1994)
References
Further reading
- Merrill, John C.; Harold A. Fisher (1980). The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers. pp. 202–10.
External links
- Template:Official website Template:In lang
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