Study: Overhaul needed for Le Monde, other French press

Posted by Erina Lin on January 9, 2009 at 8:30 PM

Newspapers and magazines in France that are suffering from declining readership and profits need to overhaul in the Web era, according to new study, Bloomberg reported.

The print media, which receive €1 billion ($1.37 billion) in state aid and tax breaks each year, have to reduce costs and adjust editorial and copyright policies, according to the 68-page "Green Book" commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The study proposed 90 ideas to counter the industry's recession, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

"Readers feel that the digital revolution has redistributed the roles of different media," according to French Culture Minister Christine Albanel after she received the report. "And according to them, the press has not sufficiently negotiated the turn toward the Internet."

The industry dismals partly due to the readers immigrating to the Web and television. French print companies' sales plummeted 15 percent between 2000 and 2007, and dropped again in 2008. "This year will be worse as the slowing economy hits classified ads and sales," according to the report, Bloomberg reported.

"Since the year 2009 appears to be replete with dangers, the conviction shared by the participants is that this initiative is necessary, that it is urgent," the report added.

According to the latest 12-month survey by Mediametrie, the average French household spends €172 on newspapers and magazines in a year, only 8 percent of the €2,272 in total media spending, including the Internet, telephones and television, Bloomberg reported.