All publications around the world have an alignment with a certain philosophy, ethos or political slant, and France is no exception.
Here's a look at some of the most popular French news organisations to help you understand their news coverage and likely political angles.
Newspapers
- Le Monde
Widely considered France's newspaper of record, Le Monde, is generally considered to be a centre-left publication - although it claims to be non-partisan. In truth, it is a very straight bat newspaper offering a rich variety of hard news, colourful reportage and socio-cultural critique. It regularly features expert voices from across the political spectrum, and has recently launched 'Le Monde in English', translating a small selection of its coverage into English for an international audience.
- Le Figaro
This is a pretty right-wing newspaper. It is the kind of publication that will run scare headlines about immigrants, based on polls conducted on its own readers. It was a key public supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy during his tenure as president - and most Le Figaro readers today still vote for right-wing parties.
- Libération
Co-founded by Jean-Paul Sartre in the wake of the 1968 student protests, it will come as no surprise to read that Libération, popularly known as Libé, is a newspaper on the left. The newspaper is known for its investigations into abuses of power and for its creative and hard-hitting front pages, often featuring cartoons.
- Le canard enchainé
This weekly newspaper, sometimes compared to the UK's Private Eye, is highly influential in French politics. Journalists at Le canard enchainé (the chained duck) are excellent at securing leaks from people in high places. It is known for its investigations and its exposé helped cripple the presidential campaign of the centre-right candidate, François Fillon, in 2017. Everyone in the French political world keeps a close eye on this newspaper, which is offers a hive of inside knowledge and political gossip. Because it fearlessly exposes the establishment, some believe Le canard enchainé to be left-wing. But the paper has also exposed abuses of left-wing candidates in the past.
- Le Journal du dimanche
France's only stand-alone Sunday paper, this was until recently a paper without an obvious political slant, and was best known for being the place that various government ministers announced new policy initiatives, via a fairly soft-hitting interview with the JDD, as it's popularly known. However in 2023 the paper was bought by right-wing billionaire Vincent Bolloré and quickly appointed a hard-right editor and moved sharply to the right. It now produces a lot of coverage of far-right talking points such as immigration and crime, and some politicians shun it.
- Ouest-France
Ouest-France is a daily newspaper that covers both national news and local news from Brittany and parts of Normandy and the Pays de la Loire. With a circulation of over 650,000 papers and 2.5 million daily readers it is the most-read newspaper in France and the most-read Francophone newspaper in the world. It is based in the western cities of Rennes and Nantes and was founded in 1944. It produces 47 different editions of the paper to cover all the local areas.
- Sud-Ouest
This is a regional publication but is still consistently one of the most read newspapers in France and covers a lot of national and international news. Its motto is: "The facts are sacred, the commentary is free." This newspaper reports a lot of hard news, without giving away its political leanings. It features guest editorials from most sides of the political debate.
- La Croix
This newspaper has some outstanding international coverage and a pretty neutral tone when it comes to coverage of domestic politics in France. It is however, unashamedly Catholic and a significant portion is devoted to stories that have some link or other to Christianity.
- Le Parisien
This is essentially a tabloid, without long opinionated diatribes. Le Parisien is factual, punchy and doesn't seem lean one way or the other. It also offers a rich guide to goings on in the French capital alongside a strong national news coverage. Its website is especially known for breaking news fast and running live blogs on developing situations. It is lacking slightly however when it comes to international coverage.
- Les Échos
This is an aggressively free-market newspaper that mostly covers financial news. It self-describes as a liberal publication, arguing that to believe in the supremacy of markets is not an ideology. This is a good newspaper to turn to if you are interested in finance, tax reforms, privatisation and macroeconomics.
Magazines/websites
- Valeurs actuelles
"The right-wing magazine that admits it" - the slogan of Valeurs actuelles tells you everything you need to know. It is economically liberal and socially conservative. It has been accused of racism, islamophobia, sexism and antisemitism. Even Le Figaro has described it as "extreme". In 2021, the magazine published an open letter signed by former military servicemen warning of a future civil war and calling for people to rise up "against the hordes from the banlieues".
- Marianne
This loosely left-wing magazine is published weekly. Circulation has plummeted in recent years and the publication has tried to shock audience with unexpected, provocative right-wing titles, seemingly designed to incense their audience, like "Why does the left see fascists everywhere?"; "Divisions and arguments: The crazy Left"; and "In France, do we have the most stupid Left in the world?"
- Médiapart
These guys are the big hitters of French investigative journalism and lean slightly to the left. It has a long track record of exposing abuses of power committed by the country's economic and political elite - stretching all the way up to former president, Nicolas Sarkozy. Médiapart is only available online.
- Charlie Hebdo
This satirical magazine publishes incredibly offensive cartoons. But that is the point - it is non-conformist, radical and chaotic. Sadly, this publication is best known for being the target of a 2015 terror attack, in which 12 people were killed. It is not somewhere to go for serious news, but has certainly made a name for itself.
- Paris Match
This is a weekly news magazine, with a heavy sprinkling of celebrity gossip and photos, it's often compared to Hello magazine. It leans to the right and is often the place where conservative candidates go for fawning profiles in the run-up to an election. After a brief stint being owned by right-wing media magnate Vincent Bolloré, which somewhat changed its editorial tone, it has now been bought the luxury goods group LVMH, owned by France's richest man Bernard Arnault.
News broadcasters
- BFMTV
This is the most watched French news channel and is seen as being slightly right-leaning and giving too much coverage to the far right. It is often criticised for being sensationalist and only concerned by ratings. While its 24 hour coverage can be repetitive and slightly tabloid, the BFMTV newsroom has clearly cultivated strong sources and is often the first French news broadcaster to break major stories.
- Franceinfo
This publicly funded TV and radio broadcaster is reliable and doesn't tend to spin the news politically. While it doesn't get to the news as fast as BFM, it is more interesting visually and carries a wider variety of stories - not focused solely on issues of government, crime and immigration and it good at providing detailed breakdowns of new announcements, laws or rules.
- CNews
Often compared to Fox News, this is brazenly right-wing, anti-immigrant and pro-business. It is also the channel on which Éric Zemmour, the 2022 far-right presidential candidate, made his name as a prime time polemicist. CNews is owned by the French billionaire, Vincent Bolloré, who also part owns radio station Europe 1 and newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
- TF1 and France 2
These are not 24-hour news channels but do broadcast popular nightly news programmes. TF1 is privately owned and has incredibly glossy, high-production news coverage. It is sometimes accused of having a right-wing bias but not everyone agrees on this. Its 20H slot is the place to find ministers explaining the government's latest announcements and decisions.
France 2 is a publicly-owned channel with a strong pedigree of investigative reports - it is pretty difficult to discern any political leanings one way or the other with this broadcaster.
Emma Pearson
Comments (2)