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The Fundamental Flaw In That Dandy French Idea Of Giving 18-Year-Olds A One-Year Newspaper Subscription For Free Is That Old Adage That You Can Lead A Horse To Water But You Can’t Make It Drink --- Philip M. Stone January 27, 2009
At least France’s President Sarkozy is trying to help the newspaper industry which is a lot more than can be said for many other world leaders, but the fundamental flaw in having the government pay for the delivery of a free one-year newspaper subscription for 18-year-olds is whether they actually will read what is given to them?

There’s a seeker born every minute --- Michael Hedges October 13, 2008
A generation ago, certainly in the pre-digital age, the comedy troupe Firesign Theater released an album titled “Everything You Know Is Wrong.” And here we are in what will be the digital century wondering what is next. Once governments bail out banks, airlines, auto makers and other billionaires, we’re next, right?

Who is Going To Bail Out Newspapers? --- Philip M. Stone September 30, 2008
Read all the stories about the US government bailout of Wall Street and what keeps cropping up again and again is that this action just touches the top of the iceberg, no-one really knows how bad things really are and don’t look for any great improvement in the global economy for at least another year. For newspapers, already suffering badly from the economic downturn that news couldn’t be much worse.

Culture guardians in action --- Michael Hedges June 9, 2008
What is media supposed to be? The post-analogue, new media teaches that media users drive that definition. Media is servant to a public with varied interests, tastes and pleasures. This is not an idea popular with politicians.

French radio audience tumbles, not RTL --- Michael Hedges April 21, 2008
Each audience survey release seems to put broadcasters a bit more on edge. Some more than others, obviously; the French national radio audience is making a painfully obvious shift away from music to news and talk.

Sacrebleu, Le Monde Journalists Strike To Protest Proposed Job Losses, But Do They Really Believe, Given Huge Losses, They Can Attract New Investment Without Giving Up Control? --- Philip M. Stone April 15, 2008
There’s a conflict in basic economics going on at Le Monde. The journalists went on strike for 24 hours Monday to protest recommended job losses that would stem the flow of red ink and make the company profitable in a couple of years; they have rejected increased investment that would mean losing their financial control, but more new money with the inmates still running the asylum is just fine. Désolé mesdames et messieurs, but newspaper economics just don’t work that way anymore.

What Do The Washington Post, The Financial Times and El Pais All Have In Common? Hint: Think Textbooks --- Philip M. Stone March 11, 2008
If ever diversification was a financial commandment then The Washington Post Company, Pearson, and Prisa can testify that the education business is a good place to be these days.

Sarkozy To French Media: 'If You Don’t Like To See Pictures of Me With My Girlfriend (Fiancé) Then Don’t Send a Photographer. We Are Not Going To Hide' --- Philip M. Stone January 9, 2008
Confidence oozed from French President Nicolas Sarkozy at his Tuesday news conference and the focus of the world’s media concentrated on when he was going to marry his supermodel girlfriend. That means his fascinating chastisements of the media, and some of his proposed solutions to heal the ailments of the French media business didn’t break through those headlines but they are important as one charts the future of the French media

Axel Springer Believes It’s A Lot Easier For Print To Make Money In Poland Than It Is In France So Au Revoir To The Planned French Version of Bild --- Philip M. Stone July 6, 2007
That huge collective sigh of relief heard throughout France Thursday came from newspaper publishers upon hearing that Axel Springer has shelved its long talked-about plans to publish a French version of its German Bild tabloid that has a 12 million daily readership and close to four million circulation, the highest in Europe.

French Newspapers Stories Used To Be About Whether They Could Financially Survive, But With The Sarkozy Presidency It’s All About Whether His Buddies (The Financiers Who Rescued Those Newspapers) Will Censor Embarrassing Stories To Remain On Good Terms --- Philip M. Stone May 24, 2007
The French electorate saw Nicolas Sarkozy as the new breath of fresh air that will pull France firmly into the 21st Century. But he does have an Achilles Heel – he is very sensitive to media reports about his private life, especially his marriage – it seems to be a very “French” marriage -- and there are already signs that his buddies who now own many French newspapers do not wish to offend by having their media report “Sarko’s” personal embarrassments.

It’s Official, At Least In France: Newspapers Are Charity Cases --- Philip M. Stone December 13, 2006
France has always had a tradition of very heavily subsidizing its newspaper industry -- in the 2007 budget €274 million is allocated, a 22% increase over two years ago – but the French Culture Minister is worried that newspapers need even more help and so he has come up with a novel idea for reader tax deductible financial support.

Edouard de Rothschild Proves Money Speaks Louder Than Words At Liberation And The Editor Of Paris Match Learns Embarrassing A Future Presidential Candidate In France Can Still Lose You Your Job --- Philip M. Stone June 26, 2006
One thing really never made sense when Edouard de Rothschild, scion of one of the most famous conservative banking families in Europe, invested some €20 million in the far-to-the left Liberation newspaper 13 months ago, promising to keep his fingers out of editorial control. What did he expect to get for his money? The answer is now in – get your foot in the door and eventually you’ll get what you really want.

WSIS in Tunis – They Came, They Talked, They Wimped Out --- Michael Hedges - November 17, 2005
“Internet governance” is a defining term: defining the ultimate oxymoron. So when 16,000 delegates descended on Tunis this week the headlines were all about grabbing that tiger by the tail and lifting it from the clutches of the Americans. After three days of reality check a new, simpler message appeared: never mind!

Key Members of the Le Monde Redesign Team Tell FTM What They Have Tried to Achieve, and How, Including Why They Didn’t Touch the Logo - It Was The One Feature of the Paper Not Broken --- Philip M. Stone November 8, 2005
For all the changes in Monday’s relaunch of Le Monde -- larger pictures, shorter news stories, longer feature stories – one aspect, the logo, was not touched. “It is one of the world’s most recognized logos so it was left well alone,” said Ally Palmer, the lead design consultant.

Le Figaro Relaunches and Claims to Finally Stop The French National Newspaper Circulation Rot with a 16% Increase; That Has Everyone Holding Their Breath for the Le Monde Relaunch in November --- Philip Stone October 16, 2005
Relatively speaking it has been a good year for Le Figaro. Its circulation has declined only by 2.4% to 326,290 from a year earlier while Le Monde’s circulation dropped 3.9% to 324,401. Because Le Figaro’s decline was less than Le Monde it finally overtook Le Monde, making France’s oldest newspaper also its leading circulation national daily newspaper. A somewhat hollow victory!

Newspapers Can Attract Back the Young, But They Must Take Steps Not to Offend Older Readers --- Philip M. Stone August 29, 2005
Some very recent research projects suggest that newspapers can regain their lost young readers, if not to the newspaper itself, then at least to special web sites set up to attract just that desired 18-30 readership age

Print and Broadcast Are Not As Powerful As They Think They Are --- Philip Stone May 30, 2005

French, Spanish and Italian Financial Backers Provide Le Monde With Much Needed Financial Support --- Philip Stone March 14, 2005

Keep an Eye on Lagardère --- Philip Stone February 14, 2005
Lagardère is a French media company on the move. Its radio, television and books divisions are doing better than most analysts had predicted, magazines are still a bit soft because of weak advertising, but its 15% stake in European Aeronautics, Defense and Space (EADS) -- the company that brings you the ever more profitable Airbus – now provides some 35% of the company’s overall revenues.

The Very Rich Come to the Aid of the Very Poor --- Philip Stone December 6, 2004

The Young Choose the Internet for Information, Television for Entertainment and Newspapers For …Well, Actually They Don’t Choose Newspapers Hardly At All --- Philip M. Stone November 8, 2004

French Dailies --- Philip M. Stone October 1, 2004

Don’t Touch That Fake News --- Michael Hedges February 4, 2019 Follow on Twitter
Most every enterprise of modest means reaches an inflection point, usually financial. Particularly vulnerable are those with big, well-known benefactors. Venture capital firms know this and regularly exact their price. Business strategies of the greater and lesser often do not coincide.

Black Helicopters Crash In Dubai --- Michael Hedges December 6, 2012 Follow on Twitter
Diplomatic negotiations carving out new international rules for the internet are underway in Dubai. Every media organization has a vested interest as the Web, crossing borders as it does, is the present and future. Don't be fooled by the hype or the conspiracy theorists. Follow the money.

The Billionaires Are Back --- Michael Hedges March 22, 2010 Follow on Twitter
In the first truly welcome sign of economic recovery, Forbes magazine says there are now more billionaires than ever. And billionaires like the media business. Spread the word. The boys are back… with cash.

Burnt Orange And Bright Lights --- Michael Hedges February 8, 2010 Follow on Twitter
The candidate taking Ukraine’s presidency will face a changed country. Before the 2004 Orange Revolution Ukraine’s media reflected the country’s dull, post-Soviet persona. That has changed.

Two Tabloids With Full Front Page Picture of Dominique Strauss-Kahn – One Called Him 'Le Perv' And The Other, 'DSK Out' – Which Country Ran Which? (Many Of You Will Be Wrong) --- Philip M. Stone May 17, 2011 Follow on Twitter
The arrest for attempted rape of Dominque Strauss-Kahn, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) chairman (DSK as the French and we will call him), in New York over the weekend is a huge story in Europe...

Being The Boss Is No Picnic --- Michael Hedges May 8, 2014 Follow on Twitter
Change agents get lots of attention but very little respect. Called to do things nobody else wants to do, they endure slings and arrows from organizations they're sent to fix. This is because nobody likes change except the investors. And dealing with them takes courage.

European Publishers Divided Whether The iPad Is Really Print’s Savior --- Philip M. Stone June 2, 2010 Follow on Twitter
Mathias Döpfner, head of the giant German Axel Springer, sees the iPad “as delivering what we were all waiting for”, but Swiss publisher Michael Ringier says it’s not “gadgets” that are going to save newspapers, but rather good journalism, a view seemingly supported by many European publishers who had not launched iPad apps when European sales began May 28. When it comes to tablets Europeans are being far more cautious than their American brethren.

Rich Businessmen Rescue Yet Another French National Newspaper --- Philip M. Stone June 30, 2010 Follow on Twitter
Le Monde got rescued just in time. The new owners paid €110 million for France’s most prestigious and influential newspaper but they had to deposit €10 million immediately to cover immediate needs including meeting payroll at the end of the week. It was that close.

Customers Disrupted, Behavior Changes Quickly --- Michael Hedges March 30, 2020 Follow on Twitter
Disruption has many masks. Digital disruption has been with the media world for nearly a generation and has offered challenges and opportunities. Publishers wasted many of those years railing about change, lobbying to stop it. Readers cared nothing about this or the cash-flow issues. Brand disruption is striking now.

The Young French Are Attracted To Paid-For Newspapers – As Long As Someone Else, Like The Taxpayer, Does The Paying --- Philip M. Stone November 11, 2010 Follow on Twitter
French taxpayers subsidize newspapers to the tune of some €600 million annually – a government report said it’s like keeping the press in a state of “permanent artificial respiration” – but the newest initiative, aimed at getting the young to read print again, seems to be working.

Acquisition Frenzy Driving Billionaires To Distraction, Regulators Sigh --- Michael Hedges February 23, 2022 - Follow on Twitter
With mergers and acquisitions in the media world rampant opinions abound on consolidation, concentration and competition. Most legal frameworks in those directions are meant to blunt monopolies, always viewed negatively. The rise and rise of digital media and related technologies continues to confound rule makers, still getting their regulatory sea-legs together after a generation. Add to that the vast sums of money involved. Then, too, there are the culture wars.

Orwell wasn’t French - Piracy and privacy oddly intersect --- Michael Hedges May 11, 2009 Follow on Twitter
Imagine, if you will, feeling compelled to write your local elected representative about an interest that affects not just you, you believe, but a lot of people. You thoughtfully compose a letter – email, being the post-modern age – and send it off. Your elected representative was so impressed he, then, forwards your email to the government department working on the particular issue. Then a person at that government office decides to forward your email to your employer. And then you get fired.

Journalists Warned To Lock All Doors, Front And Back --- Michael Hedges May 15, 2019 - Follow on Twitter
Media workers have no doubts that their every endeavour, professional or otherwise, is under scrutiny. Faith that press freedom and other conventions offer a level of protection has dissipated as authoritarian leaders continue to diminish the media’s role in civil society, if not civil society generally. We have seen this movie before.

News Outlets Just Don't Get It, Report --- Michael Hedges January 16, 2020 - Follow on Twitter
That the news media has a problem in these interesting times is very much cliché. If the mission is to inform the public with fact and context, to quote an old movie, 'What we have here is a failure to communicate.' The public, generally, turns away, dismissing journalistic output as irrelevant. Some, then, are entertained by conspiracy theories.

Names Change, Truth At Risk --- Michael Hedges March 22, 2019 - Follow on Twitter
The out-of-service sign has been hung on the term fake news. Collins English Dictionary anointed it word of the year in 2017 after a tsunami of fake news, fake ads and fake video created a vast undertow. People were drowning in it, for it and with it. Then in that most post-modern way clever dictators usurped the term, changing it into criticism of criticism. Fake news has always been about creating confusion. Now we talk about disinformation.