Le Monde
Le Monde (French: [lə mɔ̃d] ⓘ; French for 'The World') is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including 40,000 sold abroad. It has been available online since 1995, and it is often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-French-speaking countries. It should not be confused with the monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique, of which Le Monde has 51% ownership, but which is editorially independent.
First issue on 19 December 1944 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Berliner |
| Owner(s) | Groupe Le Monde |
| Publisher | Louis Dreyfus |
| Editor | Jérôme Fenoglio |
| Staff writers | 165 |
| Founded | 1944 |
| Language |
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| Headquarters | 67–69 Avenue Pierre Mendès-France 75707 Paris Cedex 13 |
| Country | France |
| Circulation | 479,243 (total, 2022) 360,000 (digital, 2020) |
| ISSN | 0395-2037 (print) 1950-6244 (web) |
| OCLC number | 833476932 |
| Website | lemonde |
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Le Monde is considered one of the French newspapers of record, along with Libération and Le Figaro. A Reuters Institute poll in 2021 found that Le Monde is the most trusted French newspaper.
The paper's journalistic side has a collegial form of organization, in which most journalists are tenured, unionized, and financial stakeholders in the business. While shareholders appoint the company's CEO, the editor is elected by Le Monde's journalists to uphold the newsroom's independence.
Le Monde has often broken major scandals, for instance, by directly implicating President François Mitterrand in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand.
In contrast to other world newspapers such as The New York Times, Le Monde was traditionally focused on offering analysis and opinion, as opposed to being a newspaper of record. It de-emphasized maximum coverage of the news in favor of thoughtful interpretation of current events. In recent years the paper has established a greater distinction between fact and opinion.
Le Monde was founded by Hubert Beuve-Méry at the request of Charles de Gaulle (as Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic) on 19 December 1944, shortly after the Liberation of Paris from Nazism, and has published continuously since its first edition.
In the 1990s and 2000s, La Vie-Le Monde Group expanded under editor Jean-Marie Colombani with a number of acquisitions. However, its profitability was not sufficient to cover the large debts it took on to fund this expansion, and it sought new investors in 2010 to keep the company from bankruptcy. In June 2010, French investors Matthieu Pigasse, Pierre Bergé, and Xavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.