Le Monde suffered another serious blow this week with the tragic and sudden death of its executive editor, Erik Izraelewicz, aged 58. A leading financial journalist, Izraelewicz, had been in turn editor of Les Echos and La Tribune before taking over at Le Monde just under two years ago. President Hollande led tributes to Erik Izraelewicz saying ““He led Le Monde in the independent tradition of this great newspaper with the determination to steer its essential transformation.” 

In common with the print media elsewhere in Europe, the main papers in France are struggling to find the right formulae to cope with the continuing surge of the digital revolution. As in many European countries, France continues to subsidise its print media heavily. However, these have proved insufficient in recent years with both France Soir and La Tribune abandoning daily print publication, despite almost free distribution via La Poste, the French postal service. As in many other countries, younger people, in particular, have given up the custom of subscribing to a daily paper, preferring to get their daily news fixes via social media.