Market Structure and Innovation Policies in France

The news media industry in France has a long tradition. Le Mercure Franc¸ois is known as the first news review. It started to appear in 1611. In 1631, The´ophraste Renaudot launched the first periodical paper, La Gazette. The first daily newspaper appeared in 1777: Le Journal de Paris. In 1830s, France became known as one of the three pioneers of the modern daily press in Europe. At that time, the newspaper industry was very innovative. For instance, the French penny press based on a new business model was introduced by journalist entrepreneurs Emile de Girardin and Armand Dutacq. They founded La Presse and Le Sie`cle in June and July 1836 respectively. These mass newspapers offered a content mixing news, romanfeuilleton and commercials. Due to the mass production, they could offer a lower subscription price (Eveno, 2003). In 1863, Moı¨se Millaud launched Le Petit Journal. It used an innovative business model based on the use of modern printing machine (de la Motte and Przyblyski, 1999). In the turmoil after World War II (1944–1947), the evolution of the printed press was influenced by the intervention of the French government. The government decided to set conditions on the structure of the newspaper market with strong constraints. Although France played an important role in the development of the press and freedom of the press for centuries, it does not have a leading position anymore. France is ranked 38th in the world regarding the press freedom index (Reporters Sans Frontières, 2015). The main reason for this position is that France does not provide effective protection for the confidentiality of journalists' sources