La Presse (Canadian newspaper)

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La Presse
Lapresse.jpg
Type Monday-Saturday newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner Power Corporation of Canada
(Gesca Limitée)
Editor André Pratte
Founded 1884 (1884-month)
Political alignment Centre-left & Quebec federalism
Language French
Headquarters 7 rue St-Jacques,
Montreal, Quebec
Circulation 204,948 daily, 263,888 Saturday in 2011[1]
Sister newspapers Le Soleil, La Voix de L'Est, La Tribune, Le Nouvelliste, Le Droit, Le Quotidien
ISSN 0317-9249
OCLC number 299333147
Official website cyberpresse.ca

La Presse, founded in 1884, is a French-language daily newspaper published Mondays through Saturdays in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is owned today by Groupe Gesca, a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada. A Sunday edition was discontinued in 2009.

Contents

[edit] Description

La Presse is a broadsheet newspaper, aimed at a middle-class readership. Its main competitor is the daily tabloid Le Journal de Montréal, which aims at more popular audience. La Presse comprises several sections, dealing individually with arts, sports, and other thematic sections. Its Saturday edition can contain over 10 sections.

The newspaper's website, Cyberpresse, operates as a company-wide portal which publishes news and editorial content from all of Gesca's local newspapers.

[edit] History

La Presse offices in Old Montreal. The black plate to the right of the door shows the logo used from the 1960s until the mid-1980s. The logo over the door was used from the late 1980s until the 1990s.

The paper was founded on October 20, 1884 by William-Edmond Blumhart. Trefflé Berthiaume took over in 1889. The fledgling newspaper's circulation would soon pass that of its main competitor of the time, La Patrie.

In April 1901, the paper organised a cruise to Quebec City (Croisière de La Presse). It also organised a charity to give Christmas gifts to poor children (L'Oeuvre des étrennes aux enfants pauvres).

A front-page illustration on the December 3, 1904 issue celebrated the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of Immaculate Conception. The practice of the time was to have an illustration on the front page, rather than a photograph.

The style and presentation have changed immensely during the course of the 20th century. It underwent a complete graphic remodeling in 1986, and again in 2003.

Since 1984, La Presse has every year honoured a "Person of the Year." In the past, it has honoured Julie Payette, Daniel Langlois and Gaétan Boucher. That same year, it published a commemorative book in order to celebrate its 100th anniversary. A similar book was published by Éditions La Presse to recap the major events of the 20th century.

In 2001, with the arrival of new editor Guy Crevier, the newspaper began a radical remodeling. The graphic design was modernized, new sections were created, international coverage was greatly increased, and many new young, up-and-coming journalists were hired. These changes had a significant positive impact on quality and circulation, especially amongst young adult readers.

[edit] Editorial line

La Presse's offices in Old Montreal with 1986-1999 logo.

The editorial board of La Presse has been consistently supportive of federalism over the past 25 years though individual columnists may freely express less sympathy. The newspaper's editorials endorsed the federalist option in both the 1980 Quebec referendum and the 1995 Quebec referendum which were held on the National Question.

The editorial board leaves room for the whole spectrum of opinions.It supported same-sex marriage legislation in Canada and the student strike and was opposed to the War in Iraq. In January 2006, the paper endorsed the Conservative Party in the 2006 election. This was primarily out of a reasoning that the Canadian government is in need of a necessary change after more than 12 years of Liberal rule.

André Pratte is currently the editorialist-in-chief. Regular columnists and editorialists include Vincent Marissal, Patrick Lagacé, Pierre Foglia, François Gagnon and Lysiane Gagnon. Sophie Cousineau writes regular columns on economic issues.

[edit] Television

The newspaper's television production arm, La Presse Télé, is producing the series Dumont, hosted by former politician Mario Dumont, for the Quebec television network V (formerly TQS).[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Audit Bureau of Circulations e-Circ data for the six months ending September 30, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  2. ^ "Mario Dumont to host Quebec TV show". cbc.ca, February 25, 2009.

[edit] External links

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