Le Monde () is a
French daily evening
newspaper with a circulation of 371,803. It is considered the French
newspaper of record, and is generally well respected, often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-Francophone countries.
The newspaper should not be confused with the monthly publication
Le Monde diplomatique, of which
Le Monde has 51% ownership, but which is editorially independent.
Le Monde—founded by
Hubert Beuve-Méry at the request of General
Charles de Gaulle after the
German army was driven from
Paris during
World War II—took over the format of
Le Temps, whose reputation had suffered during the Occupation. Beuve-Méry reportedly demanded total
editorial independence as the condition for his taking on the project. Its first edition appeared on
December 19,
1944.
Le Monde has been available on the Internet since
December 19,
1995. It is the principal publication of
Groupe Le Monde.
Its current
board chairman and director of
publication is
Éric Fottorino and the current
chief editor (rédacteur en chef) is
Gérard Courtois.
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.
Presentation
Le Monde was often described in the past as
centre-left, but its editorial line may be more appropriately described nowadays as simply centrist. 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'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.
Controversies and politics
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 entitled
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, 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.
Recent circulation history
Publication schedule
Le Monde is published around midday, and the date on the masthead is the following day's. That is, the issue which is 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.
Famous investigations
Among
Le Monde famous investigations are the 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.
Headquarters building
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.
Directors
See also
