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France-Soir

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France-Soir
FranceSoir
TypeOnline newspaper
FormatWebsite
Owner(s)Xavier Azalbert
Founded1944;80 years ago(1944)
LanguageFrench
HeadquartersParis
Websitefrancesoir.fr

France Soir(English:France Evening) was a Frenchnewspaperthat prospered in physical format during the 1950s and 1960s, reaching a circulation of 1.5 million in the 1950s. It declined rapidly under various owners and was relaunched as a populist tabloid in 2006. However, the company went bankrupt on 23 July 2012,[1][2]before re-emerging as an online-only media in 2016. In 2020, according toNewsGuard,this media "fails to adhere to several basic journalistic standards".[3]

History[edit]

France Soirwas founded as the underground paperDéfense de la France( "Defense of France" )[4]by young resistance leaders, Robert Salmon andPhilippe Viannay,in 1941. The first editions were printed on aRotaprint3offset printingmachine hidden in the cellars of theSorbonne.Distributed to Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon and to Britain by the resistance networksCombatand Témoignage chrétien,Défense de la Francebecame the largest circulation newspaper in the underground press, with 450,000 copies per day by January 1944.[5]In March 1944, after multiple relocations, it was housed on three levels of an industrial building on rue Jean-Dolent, behind theLa Santé Prison,in Paris's XIVth arrondissement.

After the liberation,Paris-Soir,which with 1.7 million copies in 1936 was the leading French daily between the wars, forfeited its printing plant in Lyon due to its ambiguous behavior under occupation.Pierre Lazareff,its former editor, had returned from the US and joinedDéfense de la Francein September 1944. The first issue ofFrance-Soir - Défense de la Francewas printed usingParis-Soir's presses on 7 November 1944. The hyphenated name affiliated the old paper with that of theFrench resistance.[6]The paper's name was truncated toFrance SoirafterWorld War II.

The paper grew to be ranked among the country's (and the European continent's) mostcirculated,reaching 1.5 million in 1955 with Pierre Lazareff aschief editor.[7]Its circulation was more than 1.4 million in the late 1950s.[8]

Early in the 21st century, circulation dropped below 90,000.[9]Its circulation was 30,000 copies just before its closure in 2011.[7]In 2013, FranceSoir.fr was relaunched as a digital tablet version for a fee, but met with mixed success.

Cartoon controversy[edit]

In February 2006, Jacques Lefranc, managing director of the news, was dismissed by then ownerRaymond Lakahfor re-printing the cartoon depictions ofMuhammadthat were the subject of the "Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy".The 12 cartoons were printed with the addition of another depicting other religious figures sitting on a cloud with the caption reading," Don't worry Muhammad, we've all been caricatured here ".[10]

Acquisition by Jean-Pierre Brunois and Olivier Rey[edit]

In April 2006, theTribunal of CommerceinLilleannounced that the paper would become the property ofJean-Pierre Brunois,a real-estate developer, and Olivier Rey, a former journalist for the paper.[11]The tribunal had been overseeing the bankruptcy and bids for take over since October 2005, at which point the circulation had dropped to around 50,000. The decision lead to strike by the staff who were displeased with Brunois' plan to cut costs by firing many, and increase circulation by turning the paper into atabloid.One of the opposing bids, favored by the staff, was fromArkadi Gaydamak,the owner ofThe Moscow News,who had promised not to fire the staff.[11][12]Due to the turbulence,France Soirwas not published for a month and a half.

Brunois brought in bi-lingual British photographerJason Fraserto lead the tabloid remodelling of the paper.[13]

Pugachyov ownership[edit]

In March 2010,France Soirwas acquired by Alexander Pugachyov, son of Russian ex-billionaireSergey Pugachyov.[4]The paper was relaunched in 2010, but its last print issue appeared on 13 December 2011,[4][7]with the online version ending in July 2012 with the court-ordered bankruptcy of the company. During the liquidation process, the nameFrance-Soirwas then bought by the group Mutualize Corporation SA. which relaunched the newspaper as a 100% online media with an innovative strategy.[14]

Mutualize Corporation[edit]

Mutualize Corporation SA. relaunched the newspaper as a 100% online media with an innovative strategy in 2016 reaching peak audience in 2018. In August 2019, site staff (4 employees) went on strike,[15]and were eventually fired, but the website kept publishing content.[16]

Publishing of conspiracy theories[edit]

The site has been criticised since 2019 for publishing false information and spreading conspiracy theories [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

Notable contributors[edit]

France-Soirhad many contributors, journalists and writers, among themJoseph Kessel,Lucien Bodard,Jean-Paul Sartre,Henri de Turenne,Henri Amouroux,Jean Lacouture,Philippe Labro,Philippe Bouvard,Jacqueline Cartier,Max Gallo,Roger Grenier,Jean Dutourd,Gonzague Saint Bris,Jacques SternbergandJean-Pierre Thiollet.

References[edit]

  1. ^Greenslade, Roy (25 July 2012)."Au revoir to France Soir".The Guardian.Retrieved23 September2019.
  2. ^Xavier Ternisien,"'France Soir' mis en liquidation".Le Monde,23 July 2012.
  3. ^Agence France-Presse (19 November 2020)."FranceSoir, le complotisme pour moteur? - Stratégies".strategies.fr(in French).Retrieved6 June2024.
  4. ^abcRoy Greenslade (25 July 2012)."Au revoir to France Soir".The Guardian.Retrieved14 December2014.
  5. ^France-Soirest issu d'un journal clandestin sous l'occupation.Archived21 September 2009 at theWayback Machine
  6. ^Pierre Haski,"France Soir ne sera plus imprimé, la fin d’un dinosaure de la presse",Rue89,11 October 2011, Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  7. ^abcCaroline Clarkson (14 December 2011)."France-Soir: death of a newspaper".France 24.Retrieved14 December2014.
  8. ^Pierre L. Horn (1 January 1991).Handbook of French Popular Culture.Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 166.ISBN978-0-313-26121-3.Retrieved14 December2014.
  9. ^"France-Soir".Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
  10. ^"French editor fired over cartoons".BBC.2 February 2006.
  11. ^abBurke, Jason (16 April 2006)."Super soaraway Soir? Quelle horreur!".The Guardian.Retrieved20 August2008.
  12. ^Thomas Crampton (14 April 2006)."Workers on strike over dealat France Soir".International Herald Tribune.Retrieved20 August2008.
  13. ^"Jason Fraser: A red-top in the land of les bleus".Independent.12 June 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 14 April 2008.Retrieved20 August2008.
  14. ^"France-Soir et Pougatchev: quatre années de vie commune mouvementées",France-Soir,27 November 2014.
  15. ^Anne Sogno,"La rédaction de France-Soir en grève",L'Obs,30 August 2019.
  16. ^Les journalistes de « France-Soir » licenciés pour motif économique, Le Monde, 2019-10-18.
  17. ^William Audureau, Aude Dassonville (17 November 2020).""FranceSoir », le nouveau repaire des « Covid-sceptiques"".lemonde.fr(in French). Le Monde.Retrieved17 November2020.
  18. ^Coquaz, Vincent (10 November 2020).""FranceSoir": ceci n'est plus un journal ".liberation.fr(in French). Liberation.Retrieved29 December2020.
  19. ^"FranceSoir, le complotisme pour moteur?".Stratégies(in French). 19 November 2020.Retrieved14 May2021.
  20. ^B., H. (21 December 2020)."Quels sont les sites qui ont publié le plus d'intox sur le coronavirus en France?".20minutes.frr(in French). 20 minutes.Retrieved14 May2021.
  21. ^"À France Soir, la machine à délires s'emballe".Le Canard enchainé(in French). Paris. 20 January 2021. p. 4.
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