Ouest-France claims its particularity in the headlines

Since Friday and from now on every day, France’s best-selling newspaper will mention under its logo that it belongs to a non-profit association. A guarantee of editorial independence from political and economic pressures.

François-Xavier Lefranc chairs the management board of West France, of which he is also publishing director. The regional daily is the best-selling title in the French press with 600,000 copies per day and a digital audience of 190 million connections per month with 700 journalists in its ranks. A title which has displayed something new since March 29, 2024 on its front page, or rather a reminder indicated under the newspaper logo: “A publication of the Association for the Support of the Principles of Humanist Democracy”.

A rarity in the world of written press in Europe since the daily has depended on a non-profit association for around thirty years. It does not belong to any industrial group and does not pay dividends to shareholders. “Ouest-France is not there to make money. It is there to defend democracy and editorial independence” as François-Xavier Lefranc points out.

“A virtuous policy”

An autonomy which requires us to play economic balancing act in the world of a bloodless press whose sales are falling and while the advertising market increasingly benefits GAFA (Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, etc.) “We made the choice of quality journalism, editorial, the choice to invest in reporting”. The publication director nevertheless provides a clarification: “Advertising represents approximately 20% of our revenues and we have an extremely powerful base of 600,000 subscribers. We must have a virtuous policy.”

An economic autonomy which also requires exploring other territories such as digital technology. West France has an extremely powerful digital platform, “It has the second largest audience in France. We are very present on digital media and we want to reach out to our readers where they are” he adds.

No voting intention polls for Europeans

Still to mark its difference, the daily has decided not to publish polls of voting intention in the European elections in West France as was already the case for the last presidential elections. François-Xavier Lefranc explains: “We consider that the journalistic time spent commenting on the polls which will tell us the same thing until the moment of the vote, will contribute to giving a completely artificial media presence time to the people who are in the lead. Let’s talk about the ‘Europe, let’s talk about the real issues: security, the economy, immigration issues, food issues.’

West France is also joining forces with franceinfo to launch the L’info et vous operation, a major consultation to find out the opinions and expectations of the French on the media and information, from April 2, 2024. “We share the battle for quality information and above all, we want to be in permanent conversation with the citizens who read us, who listen to us, who watch us” explains François-Xavier Lefranc. He believes that in these times of disinformation, it is necessary for journalists to explain how they work, their ethics and their professional conduct so that people understand how information is produced and that “Confidence is rising”.

A major debate, as the culmination of this consultation, will take place on May 16 in Rennes. It will bring together citizens and journalists, “It will be very open. There will be no taboo questions”concludes François-Xavier Lefranc.

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