Newsstand in Lyon, March 26, 2024. STEPHANE AUDRAS/REA
For the print media, the trend feels like a never-ending decline. Over the past six months, layoffs and drastic cost-cutting measures have multiplied across French newsrooms. "There are so many social conflicts happening at the same time that we don't know where to turn," said Antoine Chuzeville, co-secretary general of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ). Since December 2025, print media companies have announced nearly 1,000 job cuts. A study by Trendeo, published in mid-April, found that since 2009, about 10,500 jobs have disappeared in the sector, with 11,685 eliminated and 1,216 created.
The press is going through "a moment of intense acceleration, of profound transformation in user habits, even a rupture," said media historian Patrick Eveno. Social media and digital platforms are competing for public attention, driving declines in magazine circulation: Paris Match fell 9% in 2025, Le Point by 5.9%, Le Nouvel Obs by 6.8%, and Voici by 10.7%, according to data from the Alliance for Press and Media Statistics, the industry's certification body. The platforms are also siphoning off ad revenue.
You have 80.61% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
