Does the press play an important role in France today?

Question

I have to write an essay in French about whether the media/press plays an important role in France...

but not sure what kinda things to put because I can't find anything on google. I will be tested on my french grammar in this essay...But I still need to write things that are actually true. I can't just make it up :P

so has anybody got any knowledge on the importance of the press in france?...and/or whether its importance has changed over time? plz help?

xoxox

Answer 1

the role of the traditional print press in France is quite different than that in the United States.

Unlike American papers which claim to be objective and non-partisan reporters of facts the French press is openly associated with specific political points of view.

While the economics of publishing have generally stopped the practice, there was a time when a sure sign that someone had high political ambitions was the purchase or founding of a newspaper.

French newspapers are very anemic things compared to American papers. Even the major French dailies are only a few pages long and carry on a tiny fraction of the news found in an average American daily.

Websites of some major French newspapers:

http://www.lemonde.fr/

http://www.liberation.com/

http://www.lefigaro.fr/

http://www.ouest-france.fr/

As to electronic journalism, the government has far more influence than in the USA as it owns its own TV networks and therefore has at least some control over the dissemination of news.

You can see the websites of some French TV networks at these addresses:

http://www.france2.fr/

http://www.france3.fr/

http://www.france5.fr/

http://www.tf1.fr/

http://www.m6.fr/html/index_m6.shtml

http://tf1.lci.fr/

http://www.france24.com/france24Public/f...

Answer 2

No more,

nobody dares to criticize the governement or Sarkoko;

people who are called "journalists" in France

Moreover newspapers are owned by Sarkozy's friends

The president said several times that the press is red-wing coloured, my *** !

Answer 3

YES and NO:

No in the sense that France ranks low in the number of daily paper readers with only about 16% of the population reading a daily paper.

Yes in the sense that the written press is still the one that is more likely to have investigative journalists and the radio or TV journalists tend to just repeat what was written in a paper. So very often the press are the scoop makers.

The most read paper in France is not a national paper but a regional paper: Ouest France with 800,000 daily readers. Other local papers that I can think of are l'Est républicain, le Parisien.

Major national papers are

- Le Figaro (moderate right)

- Le Monde (supposedly independent but a lot of people disagree, often considered center-left, even really left by some, it has at times nevertheless supported right-wing candidates)

- Libération (left)

- l'Humanité (communist)

- France Soir (more sensational, but in no way comparable to British tabloids)

- Le Canard Enchaîné (satirical paper with a certain dose of anarchist spirit but the most watched paper by other journalists as they often come up with scoops and they have a good team of investigative journalists)

L'Equipe, a sports newspaper is one of the most read daily papers in France.

Now I am only talking about the news press, I do not know if you were also asking about weekly and monthly magazines and if you were also thinking of hobby or fashion magazines (Elle, Marie-Claire...)

EDIT: you will find more regional papers and some more info there: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presse_en_F...

Answer 4

Yes.  I hold both UK and French press cards.  In UK it's a joke.  In France the press is regarded as an honourable profession - and French journalists behave accordingly.  French press has been known as "the fourth estate" since the revolution.  The French press is both passionate and honest, and observes the highest professional standards.