Loïc Ballarini

Université de Lorraine, CREM

loic.ballarini@univ-lorraine.fr | ballarini.fr/loic

Local Mediaand The Public Sphere

Programme intensif Erasmus

Production de l’information et pratiques journalistiques en Europe

Camaret-sur-Mer, 25 août – 5 septembre 2014

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Circulation of french national dailies in 2013

(source: OJD)

NewspaperAverage paid

circulation per day in 2013

2013/2012

1 Le Figaro 324 154 -2,1%

2 Le Monde 299 472 -4,7%

3 L'Équipe (sports daily) 248 815 -11,6%

4 International New York Times 179 982 -1,6%

5 Aujourd'hui en France 163 590 -10,3%

6 Éditions PlayBac (dailies for kids: Le Petit Quotidien, Mon Quotidien, L’Actu)

~150 000

7 Les Échos 125 492 0,6%

8 Libération 104 329 -15,2%

9 La Croix 95 735 0,8%

10 L'Humanité 40 666 -6,8%

11 L’Opinion 35 000 ?

12 Présent <5 000 ?

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Newspaper 2013 2013/2012

1 Ouest France 733 078 -2.16%

2 Sud Ouest 265 777 -5.23%

3 Le Parisien 250 647 -8.82%

4 La Voix du Nord 238 564 -5.20%

5 Le Dauphiné Libéré 216 949 -3.05%

6 Le Télégramme 201 986 -0.65%

7 Le Progrès - La Tribune/Le Progrès 192 749 -2.81%

8 La Montagne 175 432 -1.77%

9 La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest 174 173 -3.33%

10 La Dépêche du Midi 163 897 -4.39%

11 Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace 157 799 -3.66%

12 L'Est Républicain 130 600 -7.09%

13 Midi Libre Semaine 118 672 -8.76%

14 La Provence 117 057 -5.99%

15 Le Républicain Lorrain 113 907 -4.50%

50 Le Petit Bleu du Lot et Garonne 8 038 -7.30%

51 L'Eclair des Pyrénées - Pays de l'Adour 7 293 -5.76%

52 La Dordogne Libre 5 895 0.26%

53 Libération Champagne 4 778 -5.12%

Circulation of french regional dailies in 2013

(source: OJD)

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● Source of this seminar: my PhD thesis in Information Sciences (2010)

The Public Sphere Beyond the Theory of Communicative Action. Four

Perspective Reversals to Get Out from Habermas’ Dead Ends (download)

→ results of the content analysis

→ comparing the world the local

press talks about and the

world lived by its readers

1. A content analysis of the regional press in Brittany

(People reading a newspaper think they

learn what's happening in the world.

In reality, they only learn what's

happening in the newspaper.)

Philippe Geluck, Le Retour du Chat (1988)

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● Regional press: Newspapers of general interest, both dailies and

weeklies, published and distributed at the town or regional level.● Region chosen: Brittany● Method: Analysis of all articles relating to four towns● Towns chosen:

● Rennes: 208,000 inhabitants in 2011, regional capital. Diversified

economy. Home to the daily Ouest-France.● Brest: 140,000 inhabitants, Finistère's sous-préfecture, military

arsenal. Historical stronghold of Le Télégramme + Ouest-France +

weekly Le Progrès de Cornouailles / Courrier du Léon● Saint-Brieuc: 46,000 inhabitants, Côtes-d'Armor's préfecture. Strong

industrial history, struggling to redevelop. Ouest-France + Le

Télégramme + weekly Le Penthièvre● Quintin: 2,800 inhabitants, small, relatively independent county town.

in towns this size). Ouest-France + Le Télégramme + weekly Le

Penthièvre

1. A content analysis of the regional press in Brittany

1.1. Corpus

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● Papers:● Ouest-France. Daily founded in 1944 (successor to Ouest-Eclair,

1899), 733,000 copies per day (2013), Ouest-France has been France's

largest daily paper since 1976. Flagship of the Sipa group (Ouest-France

Multimédia, Publihebdos (75 weeklies including Le Penthièvre),

Sofiouest, 50% of 20 Minutes. Particularity: non-profit making

association!● Le Télégramme. Daily founded in 1944 (successor to La Dépêche de

Brest, 1886). It has belonged to the same family practically since its

beginnings. 201,000 copies. Le Télégramme owns several weekly

papers, a publishing house, a webTV and an advertising sales division.● Le Progrès de Cornouailles / Courrier du Léon. Weekly founded

in 1895 by the bishopric of Brest, transferred to a non-religious

management after World War 2, acquired by Publihedbos in 2010.

Approximately 6,500 copies (30,000 in 1926).● Le Penthièvre. Weekly founded in 2000 by Publihebdos. 5,300 copies

1. A content analysis of the regional press in Brittany

1.1. Corpus

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2. Seemingly diversified information

2.1. Article types

2.2. The authors

2.3. Entertain, inform, integrate...

2.4. … With a smile!

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10

11

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1838

64

617

421

345

6682

Breakdown of articles by tone

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3. The permanency of hierarchies

Breakdown of quotations and photographs

quotations photographs

nb % nb %

Sportsmen/women 205 20,6 196 18,1

Members of clubs and organizations 194 19,5 167 15,4

Politicians 151 15,2 86 8,0

Professionals 109 11,0 73 6,8

Artists (profesionnal or not) 79 8,0 180 16,7

Administrations and institutions 74 7,5 34 3,1

Private individuals 52 5,2 132 12,2

Entreprises 45 4,5 45 4,2

Documents 31 3,1 9 0,8

Miscellaneous 24 2,4 82 7,6

Students 17 1,7 57 5,3

Experts and VIP's 10 1,0 17 1,6

The newspaper itself 2 0,2 3 0,3

Total 993 100 1081 100

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References: ● Réseau d'études sur le journalisme● Ringlet, Gabriel (1981). Le Mythe au milieu du village, comprendre et

analyser la presse locale. Bruxelles: Vie ouvrière

Layers of French administration:● commune (town)● canton● metropolitan● district● “pays”● département● region● state● (Europe)

4. The local: complexity and dynamics