As every year, the Ministry of Culture communicated, at the beginning of September, the amounts of direct aid to the press and announced that it had paid 110.4 million euros to 446 titles in 2022. Despite the transparency displayed, this aid continues to the subject of strong criticism. The most recurring of these is that the largest subsidies would primarily benefit billionaires investing in the press.
The Les Echos-Le Parisien Group, financed by Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, and one of the richest people on the planet, is indeed the best endowed, with 14.2 million euros received in 2022. The Le Group World and The Obs, of which Xavier Niel, founder of the Iliad (Free) group, is an individual shareholder, received 8.7 million euros; and the Figaro Group, owned by the Dassault family, received 5.9 million euros.
Marc Feuillée, general manager of the Figaro Group, judges that this annual ranking only“increase distrust of the press”. “This gives the impression that direct aid falls into the pockets of shareholders, while the majority of it does not concern securities, but aid to the distribution sector”he emphasizes. “Ten million of the 14.2 million euros were donated to the distributor France Messagerie”, specifies Pierre Louette, CEO of the Les Echos-Le Parisien Group. A significant part consists of a distribution subsidy. Corollary: mechanically, the most widely distributed newspapers receive higher aid.
“We bring the democratic contract to life”
While the States General of Information opened on Tuesday October 3, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, wants this event to be the opportunity of a ” reflection “ around this public aid, by questioning “their relevance, coherence, readability and simplicity”. A proposal welcomed positively by the Independent Online Information Press Union, which advocates a global overhaul of press aid, which is mainly based on the existence of a printed publication. Laurent Mauriac, co-president of this union, believes that “ direct aid create a distortion of competition between paper newspapers and new entrants”and instead proposes a tax credit.
“We must return to the initial notion of press aid from the National Council of the Resistance: information is a business like no other and it is not intended to be profitable”supports journalist David Dufresne, founder of the online media At office. Edwy Plenel, co-founder and president of the online media Mediapartwhich highlights the fact of not benefiting from direct aid, affirms that the latter are “unhealthy, because they create a link of dependence between the media and the State”.
You have 39.86% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.