France has one of the largest populations in Europe with around 66 million people living in the republic [1]. The capital city, Paris, is in fact the 5th most populated city in Europe [7], while also ranking 6th in ‘Top 10 Richest Cities In The World 2013’ [8]. Furthermore, as of the 2012 May elections, the current President of the country is the ‘Socialist Party’ leader François Hollande. One of the most interesting concepts around the electoral system in France is their unique governing system implicated; the elected President appoints a Prime minister (in this case Manuel Valls), with who they will share their granted executive powers with [along with the cabinet]. This system is referred to as ‘semi-presidential’ governing and is only used in 28 countries around the world including Russia.
Though currently the French media is not strictly regulated by the government, there are laws that prohibit certain aspects of the constitutional right to ‘freedom of speech’. These prohibitions are essentially when one infringes another individuals right or promotes hate upon a particular "ethnic group, a nation, a race or a religion" [9]. Therefore, much like the American constitution amendments and laws have been passed, e.g. Gayssot Act. Furthermore, the CSA (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel) are in fact a regulatory body that deals with electronic sources of media violation (TV and radio mainly). They are often an advisory body, but can be the cause of censorship.
According to figures, the French Media industry is responsible for around 14.8% of Europe’s total industry valuation. Unsurprisingly, France’s media worth is set to rise by 11.6% from $40.4 billion to $45.4 billion by 2018.
Much of the French media is dominated by broadcast & cable TV and the publishing sector (41.4% + 41.1%), together responsible for 82.5% of the market [2]. This kind of domination has resulted in huge media companies making a large profit, for example ‘Vivendi’; the biggest entertainment organisation in France. The revenue for this particular company was $27.44 billion in 2013 [4].
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| Figures showing decline in revenue for Vivendi [http://www.statista.com/statistics/194506/global-revenue-of-vivendi-since-2006/] |
However, recently figures suggest that the media companies revenue has decreased meaning that sales within the media has. Since 2010 Vivendi has lost around $6.7 billion of annual revenue [4]. These declining figures tend to be consistent throughout the media in France, with ‘Le Figaro’, the largest national selling newspaper, supporting the trend recently having their worst circulation figure of the last decade [330,952 compared to 366,690].
Essentially, the cause of these declines throughout the French media could be due to the recent technological advances that have exploited new platform’s undermining the media’s use. The internet is beginning to present opportunities that are easier and faster than what the media can produce. Simplifying it; the internet has a huge penetration and accessibility in comparison to the media and in particular news organisations. France has a internet penetration rate of 83.3%, which is larger percentage than any French newspaper currently has [10].
In conclusion the media organisations within France have begun to acknowledge illegal piracy and the huge accessibility the internet offers to the public. Therefore, much like Facebook has done (harnessed the power accessibility offers, evident in 25.5 million people having accounts on Facebook in France) the media has now switched focus to online content.
[1] France Population, The world bank - http://data.worldbank.org/country/france
[2]Marketline Industry Profile, Media in France, June 2014.
[3] Lagardere Revenue:
http://www.mediadb.eu/en/data-base/international-media-corporations/lagardere-media.htm
[4] Vivendi Revenue:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/194506/global-revenue-of-vivendi-since-2006/
[5] Circulation Figures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_France
[6] Lagardere information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagard%C3%A8re_Group
[7] Paris ranking population:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_cities_of_the_European_Union_by_population_within_city_limits
[8] Paris ranking in top richest cities in the world: http://www.alltopseven.com/richest-cities-in-the-world-2013/
[9] Quote regarding discrimination: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayssot_Act
[10] France internet penetration rate: http://www.internetworldstats.com/top25.htm
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