I’m French, and although I know quite a bit about the French press (as my father happens to be a journalist), I know next to nothing about press outside France.
So here are my two cents about media economy, from a French perspective.
1) In France, most media outlets are subsidized by the government. This is at least one way to give them a bit of financial slack that they can (hopefully) use for quality journalism (unlikely, but still more likely than in a full on competition for the fittest meme to sell). Generally, the most financial slack newspaper have the more they can let their journalist do their job conscientiously…
2) The Canard Enchainé (Chained Duck) is a French journal which does not rely much on official sources. Mostly because their reputation allows them to get unofficial sources very easily. They are very good at what they do, which is uncovering scandals, frauds, corruption and general silliness involving politicians and businesses. And they seem to do very well financially, mostly because their reputation allows information to come to them spontaneously. They are not exempt of selective reporting, but as their business model is mainly to laugh at/denounce politicians, they target everybody relatively fairly.
I think you’re raising good points, but I am wondering if 1) is still true. I have noticed recently that French media outlets have become increasingly polarised, which is encouraging all media to defend their ideological fortress to the death. For example, there is a widening ideological gap between Le Monde and Le Figaro, with both of them taking opposed and controversial stances (racialism/”decolonialisme” for one, and xenophobia/islamophobia for the other).
This is also true for News Channels. Cnews appeals to a right-wing audience while public channels (France Info) are much more leftist. Was it always like that? Am I mistaken? (edit: my point here was not to say that French media used to be neutral. It never was. I want to point out that I find abnormal that said media have been barely or superficially representing diverging opinions)
Also, I doubt that situation was caused by dearth of funds, since even a famous newspaper like Le Monde has been struggling financially for years, and before it was this polarised. French newspapers may be riding that trend to make more money, though. Still, it’s not as bad as the US yet. Yet.
Le Canard Enchainé′s sounds like a way out of this situation. If anyone knows about an English-language news outlet with a similar business model I’d be happy to hear about it.
I’m French, and although I know quite a bit about the French press (as my father happens to be a journalist), I know next to nothing about press outside France.
So here are my two cents about media economy, from a French perspective.
1) In France, most media outlets are subsidized by the government. This is at least one way to give them a bit of financial slack that they can (hopefully) use for quality journalism (unlikely, but still more likely than in a full on competition for the fittest meme to sell). Generally, the most financial slack newspaper have the more they can let their journalist do their job conscientiously…
2) The Canard Enchainé (Chained Duck) is a French journal which does not rely much on official sources. Mostly because their reputation allows them to get unofficial sources very easily. They are very good at what they do, which is uncovering scandals, frauds, corruption and general silliness involving politicians and businesses. And they seem to do very well financially, mostly because their reputation allows information to come to them spontaneously. They are not exempt of selective reporting, but as their business model is mainly to laugh at/denounce politicians, they target everybody relatively fairly.
I think you’re raising good points, but I am wondering if 1) is still true. I have noticed recently that French media outlets have become increasingly polarised, which is encouraging all media to defend their ideological fortress to the death. For example, there is a widening ideological gap between Le Monde and Le Figaro, with both of them taking opposed and controversial stances (racialism/”decolonialisme” for one, and xenophobia/islamophobia for the other).
This is also true for News Channels. Cnews appeals to a right-wing audience while public channels (France Info) are much more leftist. Was it always like that? Am I mistaken? (edit: my point here was not to say that French media used to be neutral. It never was. I want to point out that I find abnormal that said media have been barely or superficially representing diverging opinions)
Also, I doubt that situation was caused by dearth of funds, since even a famous newspaper like Le Monde has been struggling financially for years, and before it was this polarised. French newspapers may be riding that trend to make more money, though. Still, it’s not as bad as the US yet. Yet.
Le Canard Enchainé′s sounds like a way out of this situation. If anyone knows about an English-language news outlet with a similar business model I’d be happy to hear about it.
Would WikiLeaks fit this model?
It has potential. I think of WikiLeaks more as a utility than as a media outlet, but there’s a good argument that WikiLeaks does indeed fit the model.
Maybe ‘Private Eye’ in the UK might have some parallels.