French online-only and print publications get €20 million

Posted by Alisa Zykova on December 30, 2009 at 10:35 AM

Online news outlets in France will receive €20 million in funding for 2009, with "traditional" news sites getting a larger portion, Le Monde reported today. "For the first time" online outlets would have the same access as newspapers do to receive help from the state even though the majority of the money would go towards "traditional" press publications.

The first meeting of the commission that equally represents both sides took place on December 21. The commission, whose task is to allocate the funding accordingly, looked at 18 cases out of the 70 it received. A number of Internet-only news sites would benefit from the subsidies, Le Monde said.

Rue89 is set to receive €249,000; Mediapart will get €200,000 and Slate.fr €199,000, according to the report. Other "pure players" (online-only) publications to receive government aid include Satellifax, oriented towards the audiovisual industry, as well as Yagg, a homosexual news outlet. The figures are linked to the separate demands featured inside the dossiers submitted by the pure players and not to audience size or revenues.

According to Maurice Botbol, president of the Syndicate of Independent Online News Press (SPIIL), the time gap between the release of the decree and the deadline for submission of dossiers was too short. The "traditional press" hurried with case folders that were ready and that contained data dating to years ago: "they were better armed than we were."

"It's important that in a time of technological upheavals that the State guarantees the pluralism of information and equal treatment of traditional press and pure players," said Mediapart founder Edwy Plenel, "But it is evident that we do not relate our future to these subsidies and that they will not touch the core of our job: producing information."

Media groups such as La Dépêche, Bayard Presse ou Lagardère Active were better served but pure players were nonetheless glad to have received state funding, Le Monde reported. However, according to Arrêt Sur Images there is no information on the figures that larger media groups received, just a description outlining that they would be used to update "the daily press and assimilate political and general news." Mediapart intends to use the cash for technological developments as well as marketing tools, said Arrêt Sur Images.

"The funds played their role well when it comes to projects that we could not have developed without this help," said Rue89 Founder Pierre Haski, "This money will help us in creating a new platform."

Usually newspapers aren't keen on revealing how much state funding they receive. However, the SPIIL is campaigning for more transparency. Botbol mentioned that he understood that the case files were confidential but found it problematic that the figures remain so, reported Arrêt Sur Images. After the first meeting, he asked that grants be made public by the end of the meeting. He added that by being transparent, his publication was trying to set an example.

Arrêt Sur Images stated that the €20 million is comprised of 80 percent grants and 20 percent repayable loans. The outlet hypothesised that the sum would not be enough for everyone, since the 70 cases may require up to €30 million.

Arrêt Sur Images goes on to point out that Le Monde did not state what newspapers dropped off their cases to the commission or that the amounts asked by newspapers are generally much higher than those asked by online-only publications. Le Monde did not submit a dossier to the commission on time, Arrêt Sur Images added.

The next meeting of the commission is planned for January 29, 2010 in order to examine the rest of the cases.