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Le Figaro

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Le Figaro
File:Logo Le Figaro.jpg
current logo
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Dassault Group
Founded15 January 1826
as a daily newspaper:
16 November 1866
Political alignmentRight wing
LanguageFrench
Headquarters14 Boulevard Haussman
F-75009 Paris
ISSN0182-5852
Websitewww.lefigaro.fr

Le Figaro (French pronunciation: [lə fiɡaʁo]) is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It has been generally well respected in post–World War II France. Its editorial line is conservative.[1]

Le Figaro is the second-largest national newspaper in France after Aujourd'hui en France and before Le Monde, but some regional papers have larger circulations. It is one of the three French newspapers of record, along with social-liberal papers Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest still-existing newspaper in France.

Le Figaro is owned by Le Figaro Group, whose publications include TV Magazine and Evene. The company's chairman is Serge Dassault, whose Dassault Group has controlled the paper since 2004.

History

The paper was founded as a satirical weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto from Le Mariage de Figaro, a play by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais that poked fun at privilege. Its motto, from Figaro's monologue in the play's final act, is "Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur" ("Without the freedom to criticise, there is no true praise"). It was published somewhat irregularly until 1854, when it was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant.

By 1866, it had gained the greatest circulation of any newspaper in France. Its first daily edition, that of 16 November 1866 sold 56,000 copies. Albert Wolff, Émile Zola, Alphonse Karr and Jules Claretie were among the paper's early contributors. In 1833 editor Nestor Roqueplan fought a duel with a Colonel Gallois, who was offended by an article in Le Figaro, and was wounded by recovered.[2] On 16 March 1914, Gaston Calmette, the editor of Le Figaro, was assassinated by Henriette Caillaux, the wife of Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux, after he published a letter that cast serious doubt on her husband's integrity.[3] In 1922, Le Figaro was purchased by perfume millionaire François Coty.[4]

By the start of World War II, Le Figaro had become France's leading newspaper. After the war it became the voice of the upper middle class, and continues to maintain a conservative position.

In 1975, Le Figaro was bought by Robert Hersant's Socpresse. In 1999, the Carlyle Group obtained a 40% stake in the paper, which it later sold in March 2002. As of 2004, Le Figaro is controlled by Serge Dassault, a conservative businessman and politician best known for running the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation, which he inherited from his father, its founder, Marcel (1892–1986).

Le Figaro has published The New York Times International Weekly on Friday since 2009, an 8-page supplement featuring a selection of articles from The New York Times translated into French. In 2010, Lefigaro.fr created a section called Le Figaro in English,[5] which provides the global English-speaking community with daily original or translated content from Le Figaro’s website. The section ended in 2012. [6]

Controversy about editorial independence

Controversial both inside and outside the newspaper is its ownership by a person who also controls a major military supplier, as well as being a mayor and senator from the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, whose son Olivier Dassault is a member of the French National Assembly for the same party.[7] In response, Dassault remarked in an interview on the public radio station France Inter,[8] that "newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas" and that "left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas."

In February 2012, a general assembly of the newspaper's journalists adopted a motion accusing the paper's managing editor, Étienne Mougeotte, of having made Le Figaro into the "bulletin" of the governing party, the Union for a Popular Movement, of the government and of President Nicolas Sarkozy. They requested more pluralism and "honesty" rather than one-sided political reporting. Mougeotte had previously said that Le Figaro would do nothing to embarrass the government and the right.[9][10][11] Mougeotte publicly replied:[12]

Our editorial line pleases our readers as it is, it works. I don't see why I should change it. [...] We are a right-wing newspaper and we express it clearly, by the way. Our readers know it, our journalists too. There's nothing new to that!

See also

References

  1. ^ "Strauss-Kahn arrest impacts on French election". The Independent. 16 May 2011.
  2. ^ Millingen, J.G. (2004). The History Of Dueling Including Narratives Of The Most Remarkable Encounters.
  3. ^ Sarah Sissmann and Christophe Barbier, "Une épouse outragée", L'Express, 30 August 2004. Retrieved on 27 January 2007.
  4. ^ Janet Flanner (3 May 1930),"Perfume and Politics", The New Yorker. Republished on 7 May 2005. Retrieved on 27 January 2007.
  5. ^ "Mon Figaro - Cercle - Le Figaro in English - articles". Plus.lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  6. ^ "Mon Figaro - This Week's Top Stories from France". Plus.lefigaro.fr. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  7. ^ "Dassault se sépare d'Yves de Chaisemartin", Le Figaro, 1 October 2004. Retrieved on 27 January 2007.
  8. ^ "M. Dassault veut une presse aux « idées saines »", Le Monde, 12 December 2004. Retrieved on 27 January 2007.
  9. ^ ""Le Figaro" n'est pas "le bulletin d'un parti"", Le Monde, 9 February 2012
  10. ^ "La question du jour. "Le Figaro" est-il un journal d'opinion ou un "bulletin" de l'UMP?", Le Nouvel Observateur, 10 February 2012
  11. ^ "Présidentielle : les journalistes du Figaro réclament un journal plus « honnête »", Rue89, 9 February 2012
  12. ^ ""Le Figaro" : Mougeotte répond aux critiques de ses journalistes", Le Nouvel Observateur, 10 February 2012
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