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France to Aid Newspapers

by Dave Keating | January 26, 2009 at 04:26 am

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After a three-month investigation of the problems facing the French press, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised the following: tax breaks for delivery services, a doubling of the advertising it does in print and online newspapers, an increase in the public subsidies to newspapers to around €500 million, and giving all 18-year-olds a free subscription of the newspaper of their choice for a year.

President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday announced new financial aid for French newspapers, but stopped short of the structural overhaul that analysts say is needed to revitalize the ailing sector.

In concluding a three-month examination of the problems facing the press, Sarkozy promised a variety of aid, including tax breaks for delivery services. In an effort to help newspapers through the depths of the recession, he said the government would double the amount of advertising it does in print and online newspapers.

"It is the state's primary responsibility to respond to an emergency, and there is an emergency caused by the impact of the collapse of advertising revenue," Sarkozy said.

While newspapers everywhere are facing difficulties, the state of the French press is particularly dire.

Across the pond in the US much ink has been spilled about the imminent demise of the American newspaper. Paper after paper across the country has been folding, and big media conglomerates such as Tribune Corp. are going bankrupt. Even the New York Times, the most respected paper in the US, has been forced to take out a mortgage on its new Manhattan headquarters and start advertising on its front page. As far as I know the newpaper industry in the US doesn't receive any government assistance of any kind. So is the French social model of bailing out newspapers something that the US should consider?

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