France has undergone a year of extreme political turbulence. Following the far right’s victory in the June European elections, President Macron called early parliamentary elections in June and July 2024. His gamble backfired since his party failed to win a majority and it has proved impossible to assemble a coalition government. Since then, France has had four prime ministers in less than a year and most media legislation has stalled.

On the face of it, political turmoil, combined with Paris hosting the Olympics in July 2024 and France’s most covered rape trial in years, should have made 2024 a bumper year for French news publishers. But outside these major events, the general picture was less encouraging, with increasing distrust, volatile advertising revenues, and little change in the low numbers (11%) prepared to pay for digital news.

The Olympics certainly benefited L’Equipe, France’s daily sport newspaper, with 250 journalists: it sold 300,000 copies a day during the games and had a total 210m visits to its app and website. It was also a historic opportunity for France Télévisions, one of the official media partners for the Olympics, which were watched by nearly 60m French people.¹ The Paris Olympics were also a breakthrough moment for an army of online content creators on TikTok and Instagram whose official access reflected the increasing use of mobile phones for news in France.   

The Mazan mass rape trial turned into massive media event in France and globally. Every detail of the four-month-hearing was reported on radio, TV, and on news websites. The 72-year-old Gisele Pélicot, who survived nearly a decade of rapes by dozens of men, waived her right to anonymity. She also agreed that the public and press could be present when video evidence of the crimes was shown in court. These decisions boosted the media coverage, with 180 media organisations attending, of which 86 were from abroad. The trial raised many ethical questions, including whether journalists should give complete names of defendants and how to avoid people tracking them or their families down via social media.

Journalistic ethics were to the fore when Arcom, the audio-visual regulator, cancelled the licence of the C8 TV channel, owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, on grounds of inadequate editorial oversight, particularly of a show presented by TV star Cyril Hanouna, who has been accused of spreading falsehoods, and of violence and insults towards guests, and a lack of balance in the issues debated on air.² 

Meanwhile, many journalists from the 24-hour channel BFM TV, bought in 2023 by the shipping magnate Rodolphe Saadé, exercised their right to voluntary redundancy after a change of owner, but audiences are falling and a new team has been hired. Saadé’s group has partnered with Mistral AI, a French start-up, to apply AI to improve multiple sectors, from shipping to logistics and media.

Local journalism seems to be the new holy grail. Saadé’s BFM now has nine local TV stations which are seen as news audience drivers, with hyperlocal stories and interviews with viewers in the major French cities. France Télévisions and Radio France, the main public broadcasters, also committed to more regional journalism, converting their 44 radio stations into TV channels now branded ICI, offering in-depth regional and local coverage. Finally, Ouest-France, the best-selling paper in France, is launching a new TV channel in September, also focused on including voices from the regions.

On the subscription front, Le Figaro now has 294,000 subscribers and there are 580,000 for Le Monde, where digital revenue is expected to cover the €72m cost of the entire newsroom within two years. Le Monde’s CEO recently credited the current political turmoil in France for attracting new subscribers.³ Médiapart, the digital-born media created 17 years ago, now has 245,000 subscribers and 150 journalists, working mostly on investigative pieces, and sees its success as linked to readers looking to better understand the current international crises.⁴

French people have the lowest level of news literacy training in our survey, with just 11% saying they received education/training on how to use news. The impressive success of explainers and formats like HugoDécrypte’s YouTube videos reflects the strong desire, particularly of younger audiences, to be informed, but in a more relatable way. A fifth (22%) of under-35s survey respondents had seen him commenting on or discussing the news in the previous week. A 2024 report from the government-appointed Estates General of News recommended that serious news influencers should be recognised as news sources, but the political crisis means no action has been taken. Meanwhile French public debate is becoming ever more polarised.

Alice Antheaume
Executive Dean, Sciences Po Journalism School

Changing media

Political turmoil has not benefited TV news, with weekly use down 4pp to 59%. Social media are beneficiaries, driven by younger audiences via Instagram (+5pp), TikTok (+4pp), and YouTube (+3pp).

France has one of the lowest levels of trust in news in our survey (joint 41st out of 48 markets). This score reflects low and declining levels of trust in institutions. Local newspapers and public broadcasters remain broadly trusted while commercial TV channels CNews and BFM are distrusted by large sections of the population due to perceptions of biased or partisan news coverage.

Footnotes