France-Soir, a newspaper who wrote the history of the press - October 15, 2011
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Few newspapers have a history as brilliant and desperate that France-Soir. A heroic birth, with the brilliant Pierre Lazareff transforms, at the end of the war, a newspaper born in the underground resistance, Defence of France, in large tabloid. Shattering debut, with prints that quickly reach over a million copies. Illuminated by a succession of prestigious feathers. A slow but inexorable fall, punctuated by numerous changes in ownership.
France-Soir has become the first French daily Liberation from. Acquired by Hachette in 1949, the newspaper saw its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. He crossed the bar of a million copies in 1953-1954, while France mired in the wars of decolonization in Indochina first, then to Algeria.The French go to the front and France-Soir draws more than 1.5 million copies. A banner on the front proclaims: "The only daily selling over a million copies."
By dint of scoops of hard-hitting headlines and large photographs, France-Soir is a reference. "Pick the world in a day and throw it to the men every morning," the newspaper endorsed this definition of journalism by Joseph Kessel, who covered the trial of Petain and Nuremberg. The anthology pieces by Lucien Bodard, Françoise Giroud, Jean Philippe Labro Ferniot or alongside the venomous "Gossip gossip of" Carmen Tessier, the soap with rose Angélique, marquise of angels and the "facts div" sordid as the Dominici affair. The cocktail is perfect.
At the height of his fame, France-Soir is working out up to 400 journalists and eight editions per day.Sales over two million copies in November 1963, after the death of John F cheap pay day loans. Kennedy and after the November 1970 General de Gaulle.
The tide is turning in the 1970s. When Lazareff died in 1972, the daily press is beginning to be shaken up by radio and television. The editorial line is less clear. Like its competitors, France-Soir tabloid to balance between the Anglo-American general and the newspaper. Frequent changes of shareholders from that time do not help matters. The "avid reader" Robert Hersant, which then has to Le Figaro, took control of France-Soir in 1976. First bleed to the editor that loses 80 of 200 journalists … But in 1983, the distribution still falls to 400,000 copies.
Following is a series of stimulus packages and restructuring.Between 1982 and 2004, eleven editors will succeed at the bedside. In 1998, Yves de Chaisemartin, who told Robert Hersant the keys to Socpresse, the paper goes tabloid significantly lowering the selling price. But the title is seriously deficient. It changed hands in 1999, 2000 and 2002. Philippe Bouvard, who has officiated in the newspaper between 1973 and 1989, then back at the helm. France-Soir +, refocused on television and sport, does not return to its glorious past.
Bloodless, without cap, France-Soir is placed in receivership in late 2005. The following year, the newspaper was bought by the developer Jean-Pierre Brunois. Journalists on strike brandishing leaflets "Bal tragic in court: 80 dead." Inspiration always comes from English tabloids. But the newspaper has lost the recipe for success.The two stimulus packages Alexander Pugachev, who acquired the newspaper in 2009, failed to reverse the trend.