Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Digital News Report 2017 68

STATISTICS Population 66m Internet penetration 84%

2017 has been marked by fact-checking with its team Les Decodeurs, doing well online (12% of weekly reach). an unusually intense and launched a new product Les Decodex Franceinfo has also pioneered new formats focused on fact-checking hundreds of including a new approach to fact-checking unpredictable French French news websites, powered by a through Facebook Live videos compiled presidential election campaign, database of 600 of them. has also on the streets.26 which has redefined the media been using Snapchat Discover to attract young audiences. Meanwhile Meanwhile, press circulation is still landscape and where online planned to double its live video stream declining in France and 740 newsstands now for the first time matches output in the run-up to the election. closed in 2016 (4% of the total). A new TV as a source of news. design of newsstand has been tested in the In previous presidential elections new south of to display a broader range of digital-born outlets were launched in France . If it helps increase the sales, The presidential election has been (Le Huffington Post in 2012, and Rue89 in it could be rolled out more widely. dominated by breaking news, and in 2007). Similarly, this year, Forbes, Business particular scandals about two candidates, Insider, and Mashable – all American brands , a free daily created Marine Le Pen (extreme-right) and the – launched French versions, and Politico, in 2002, now has a wider circulation than previous favourite François Fillon (right), with two senior editors based in Paris, Le Figaro, with about 937,000 copies which made the campaign both more strengthened its presence. They are all available per day on public transport. newsworthy and uncertain than previous chasing millennials and exploring new ways Online, 20minutes.fr is very powerful as elections. This led to a strong appetite for of monetising their brands, since digital well, mixing soft and hard news, and with no real-time news, which benefited the main advertising revenues are slowing down, paywall. Paying for online news is still rare, 24-hour TV channel BFM TV, with a reach partly due to the use of ad-blocking (31%). with the exception of some specialist sites of over 45%, as well as online news sites in like the pure player Mediapart which general. In the midst of the Fillon scandal, In TV, in an attempt to attract young claims 120,000 subscribers. Le Monde is nine of the ten most-read articles on the viewers, the 24-hour news channel LCI, experiencing a real shift in its audience, Le Monde website were about the affair. part of the TF1 group and free to air since since it now has more digital (110,000) Meanwhile France remains under a state last year, hired 19-year-old Hugo Décrypte, than print subscribers (100,000). of emergency since the Paris attacks of a French YouTuber who creates political November 2015. Almost 10m people explainer videos. Another leading channel Inspired by the special offer made to watched the debate between five major Itélé, owned by Vincent Bolloré, is in the Amazon Prime clients to read the candidates, held on TF1 and LCI, five weeks trouble, after a long-lasting strike in Washington Post for free, the telecom before going to the polls. November 2016 led more than half of operator SFR, whose CEO Patrick Drahi now the newsroom to leave. It has now been owns the daily newspaper Libération, the The intensity of the election campaign, renamed CNews. news magazine L’Express, and has some together with fears about extremist shares in Nextradio TV group (BFM TV, RMC propaganda and the role of fake news, has In public service broadcasting, Franceinfo, radio, and a couple of digital titles), built a fuelled several innovations. One such, which was originally a breaking-news public mobile application named SFR Presse, to CrossCheck, was launched in February with radio created in 1987, has been turned into a give unlimited access to all of its titles. support from Google and Facebook, multimedia public service continuous news involving several French media companies, outlet, on radio as before, but with a new TV Alice Antheaume to fight against misinformation.25 In addition, channel, and a new mobile application Vice Dean, Sciences Po Journalism School Lemonde.fr which had pioneered French (previously called France TV Info), which is

25 https://firstdraftnews.com/crosscheck-launches 26 http://www.poynter.org/2017/a-french-journalist-is-bringing-fact-checks-to-millions-using-facebook-live-and-his-own-two-feet/456086 27 https://www.demos.co.uk/press-release/the-age-of-fear-new-polling-reveals-a-gloomy-divided-europe 68 / 69

TV, RADIO AND PRINT ONLINE

BFM TV 45 20 Minutes online 189  TF1 News 42 Le Monde online 167 TOP BRANDS France Télévisions news (franceinfo etc) 37 Le Figaro online 157 % Weekly usage M6 News 26 Hu†ngton Post 126 Regional or local newspaper 22 Franceinfo 124 Commercial radio news (RTL etc) 19 Regional or local newspaper website 124 Weekly use TV, radio & print Public radio news (France Inter etc) 17 BFM TV online 104 More than 3 days per week 20 Minutes 16 online 106 TV, radio & print CNews(i-Télé) 16 Yahoo! News 93 Weekly use LCI 14 L’Express online 95 online brands Le Monde 10 Libération online 85 More than 3 days per week 9 L'Obs (tempsreel.nouvelobs.com) 85 online brands Le Figaro 8 Médiapart 85 Ouest France 7 MSN News 37 France 24 7 Aufeminin.com 47 Direct Matin 6 online 47

PAY PAY FOR AUDIENCE MAP FOR TOP ONLINE NEWS BRANDS ONLINE NEWS More More le-leaning right-leaning 10% (-1) audience audience (=22nd/35)

Mediapart Le Monde 20 Minutes Le Figaro Libération BFM TV

USE AN BRAND ATTRIBUTES AD-BLOCKER % of 20minutes.fr users who say it is best for… % of Lemonde.fr users who say it is best for…

Accurate and reliable news 25 Accurate and reliable news 38 31% (+1) Understanding complex issues 20 Understanding complex issues 34 (=3rd/36) Strong viewpoints 21 Strong viewpoints 34 Amusing and entertaining 30 Amusing and entertaining 8

CHANGING MEDIA News websites in France 100% 100% Online (inc. Social) Tablet Social now have more than 50% TV Smartphone Print Online (incl. social) of their traffic coming from Social mobile. This is a result of Computer Print

an aggressive use of mobile 50% 50% TV

notifications (20minutes.fr,

lefigaro.fr, BFM online),

which French mobile users seem to be especially 0% 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 fond of.

TRUST TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING Trust in the media is amongst the MOST OF lowest in Europe (30%). This may THE TIME News I use Rank Brand For news All reflect concerns that editorial I TRUST... stories can be influenced by 38% 1 Facebook 43% (+1) 61% powerful owners with business 31st/36 interests to protect. It might 2 YouTube 19% (-2) 46% also be connected to low trust News overall 3 Twitter 9% (+1) 16% in French politics and political institutions in general, as (-2) 4 Facebook Messenger 7% 24% reflected in various surveys and 30% 32nd/36 the weak showing of mainstream 5 Google Plus 5% (-1) 10% parties in the recent elections.27