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Le Monde (French:[ləmɔ̃d]ⓘ;French for 'The World') is aFrench daily afternoonnewspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an averagecirculation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including 40,000 sold abroad. It has been available online since 1995, and it is often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-French-speaking countries. It should not be confused with the monthly publicationLe Monde diplomatique, of whichLe Monde has 51% ownership but is editorially independent.Le Monde is considered one of the Frenchnewspapers of record, along withLibération andLe Figaro. AReuters Institute poll in 2021 found thatLe Monde is the most trusted French newspaper.[5]
The paper's journalistic side has a collegial form of organization, in which most journalists are tenured, unionized, and financial stakeholders in the business. While shareholders appoint the company's CEO, the editor is elected byLe Monde's journalists to defend the newsroom's independence.
Le Monde has often broken major scandals, for instance, by directly implicating PresidentFrançois Mitterrand in thesinking of theRainbow Warrior in New Zealand. In contrast to other world newspapers such asThe New York Times,Le Monde was traditionally focused on offering analysis and opinion, as opposed to being a newspaper of record. It de-emphasized maximum coverage of the news in favor of thoughtful interpretation of current events. In recent years the paper has established a greater distinction between fact and opinion.[6]
Le Monde was founded byHubert Beuve-Méry at the request ofCharles de Gaulle (as Chairman of theProvisional Government of the French Republic) on 19 December 1944, shortly after theLiberation of Paris from Nazism, and has published continuously since its first edition. In the 1990s and 2000s, La Vie-Le Monde Group expanded under editorJean-Marie Colombani with a number of acquisitions; however, its profitability was not sufficient to cover the large debts it took on to fund this expansion, and it sought new investors in 2010 to keep the company frombankruptcy. In June 2010, French investorsMatthieu Pigasse,Pierre Bergé, andXavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.[7]
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Le Monde was founded in 1944,[8][9] at the request of GeneralCharles de Gaulle, after theGerman army had been driven from Paris duringWorld War II. The paper took over the headquarters and layout ofLe Temps, which had been the most important newspaper in France, but its reputation had suffered during theOccupation.[10] Beuve-Méry reportedly demanded totaleditorial independence as the condition for his taking on the project.Le Monde began publishing a weekly digest edition in English on 23 April 1969.[11]
In December 2006, on the 60th anniversary of its publishing début,[citation needed]Le Monde moved into new headquarters inBoulevard Auguste-Blanqui,13th arrondissement of Paris.[12] The building—formerly the headquarters ofAir France—was refashioned byBouygues from the designs ofChristian de Portzamparc. The building's façade has an enormousfresco adorned by doves (drawn byPlantu) flying towardsVictor Hugo, symbolisingfreedom of the press. In 2008,Le Monde was found guilty of defamation for saying that Spanish football club FC Barcelona was connected to a doctor involved in steroid use. The Spanish court fined the newspaper nearly $450,000.[13]
In 2014, Groupe Le Monde announced thatLe Monde would move into a new headquarters, also in the 13th arrondissement, around 2017, with space for 1,200 people.[14] In April 2016, twoLe Monde reporters were denied visas to visit Algeria as part of the French Prime Minister press convoy to Algeria. The denial of visas toLe Monde reporters caused some French media to boycott the event, includingLibération,Le Figaro, andFrance Inter.Le Monde had previously published the names of Algerian officials directly involved with thePanama Papers scandal.[15][16] Coverage of the scandal inLe Monde included a front-page photo of President of AlgeriaAbdelaziz Bouteflika.[16] However, the paper clarified in its next edition that Bouteflika was not directly implicated, but maintained that his associates were. Bouteflika opened alibel suit againstLe Monde, which was later dropped after the newspaper apologised.[17]
In June 2017, Le Monde was certified as an International Fact-Checking Network member of thePoynter Institute.[18]。
In June 2010, investorsMatthieu Pigasse,Pierre Bergé, andXavier Niel acquired a controlling stake in the newspaper.[7] In October 2018, staff learned that Pigasse had sold 49% of his stake in the company to Czech businessmanDaniel Křetínský.Le Monde's Independency Group, a minority shareholder that aims to protect the paper'seditorial independence, had not been informed of the sale, and asked Pigasse and Křetínský to sign an "approval agreement" that would give the Independency Group the right to approve or reject any controlling shareholder. As of September 2019[update], they had not done so.[31][32]
Le Monde is published around midday, and thecover date on the masthead is the following day's. For instance, the issue released at midday on 15 March shows 16 March on the masthead. It is available on newsstands in France on the day of release and received by mail subscribers on the masthead date. The Saturday issue is a double one, for Saturday and Sunday, thus the latest edition can be found on newsstands from Monday to Friday included, while subscribers will receive it from Tuesday to Saturday.
Le Monde was among the first French newspapers on the web, with its first web edition on 19 December 1995.[33] It is among the 50 most visited websites in France.[34] Starting in the 2000sLe Monde allowed its subscribers to publish a blog on its website. These blogs were called the "les blogs abonnées du Monde.fr". On 10 April 2019,Le Monde announced that it would be closing its blog platform on 5 June 2019.[35][36] Although the reasons for the closing of the blogs were unclear, it could be linked to the dominance of social networks like Facebook.[37]Le Monde launched an English language edition of its news website on 7 April 2022, featuring its articles translated from French.[2][3]
On January 20, 2025,Le Monde announced its withdrawal from the social networkX (formerly Twitter), citing the "intensification of activism" by its ownerElon Musk and the "growing toxicity of discussions" on the platform.[38] The editorial team emphasized that, although difficult, this decision aligns with their commitment to preserving editorial independence and avoiding contributing to an environment harmful to public debate.[39]
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According to theMitrokhin Archive investigators,Le Monde (KGB codename VESTNIK, "messenger") was theKGB's key outlet forSoviet disinformation in the French media. The archive identified two seniorLe Monde journalists and several contributors who were used in the operations (see also the article onRussian influence operations in France).[41] Michel Legris, a former journalist with the paper, wroteLe Monde tel qu'il est (Le Monde as it is) in 1976. According to him, the journal minimized the atrocities the CambodianKhmer Rouge committed. In their 2003 book titledLa Face cachée du Monde (The Hidden face of "Le Monde"), authorsPierre Péan and Philippe Cohen alleged that Colombani and then-editorEdwy Plenel had shown, amongst other things,partisanbias and had engaged in financial dealings that compromised the paper's independence. It also accused the paper of dangerously damaging the authority of the French state by having revealed various political scandals (notably corruption scandals surroundingJacques Chirac, the "Irish of Vincennes" affair, and the sinking of a Greenpeace boat, theRainbow Warrior, by French intelligence under PresidentFrançois Mitterrand). This book remainscontroversial, but it attracted much attention and media coverage in France and worldwide at the time of its publication. Following a lawsuit, the authors and the publisher agreed in 2004 not to proceed with any reprinting.[citation needed]
ThePrix littéraire duMonde has been awarded annually byLe Monde since 2013. It is awarded at the beginning of September to anovel published at the start of the French literary season—or "rentrée littéraire". The winner of the prize is chosen by a jury made up of journalists—literary journalists fromLe Monde des livres, cultural or other editorial staff—chaired by the director of the newspaper.[42]
^"Mentions légales".Le Monde (in French). Retrieved5 July 2016.Editeur Société Éditrice du Monde [...] Dont le siège social est situé 80, boulevard Auguste-Blanqui – 75707 Paris cedex 13
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