By supporting the dissemination of the press, the Ministry of Culture helps to guarantee freedom of the press, pluralism of expression, information for the citizen and the conditions of democratic debate.
Presentation of the device
What is support for national publications of political and general information with low advertising resources?
Support for national publications of political and general information with low advertising resources is intended to support titles which receive structurally low advertising revenues in view of their editorial positioning and titles which short-term financial difficulties.
Support for national publications of political and general information with low advertising resources is divided into two sections:
- The aid granted under Section 1 of the fund benefits publications meeting certain conditions relating to the average selling price, distribution and circulation and, finally, the percentage of advertising revenue in their total revenue (less than 25%).
- Aid granted under Section 2 shall be granted to publications which have received aid under Section 1 for at least three years, but may no longer benefit from it on account of their advertising revenue, and whose advertising revenues represent less than 35% of the company’s total revenues. A publication may only be eligible for aid under Section 2 for a maximum of 3 years. A security losing the benefit of the 2nd section of the fund during one of these 3 years may claim the benefit of the 1st section if it fulfils the conditions.
Am I concerned by this approach?
The aid is reserved for national publications of weekly to quarterly frequency recognised by the Joint Commission on Publications and Press Agencies as being of a political and general information nature.
Eligibility criteria vary slightly depending on the fund’s sections:
*Section 1*
- For weeklies, bimonthlies and monthlies: have a sales price per issue of less than 130% of the average sales price weighted by the annual distribution in France of political and general information titles of the same frequency, the average selling price is calculated from the number selling price on 1 January of the year in which the aid was granted;
- For bimonthly and quarterly: have a single-issue sales price of less than 160% of the average price weighted by the annual distribution in France of political and general information titles of the same frequency, the average selling price is calculated from the number selling price on 1 January of the year in which the aid was granted;
- Have an average paid circulation in France that has not exceeded 300,000 copies in the fiscal year preceding the year of grant;
- Having advertising revenues that accounted for less than 25% of total revenues.
*Section 2*
- Have received support under the 1st Section for at least 3 years;
- For weeklies, bimonthlies and monthlies: have a sales price per issue of less than 130% of the average sales price weighted by the annual distribution in France of political and general information titles of the same frequency;
- For bimonthly and quarterly: have a selling price per issue of less than 160% of the average price weighted by the annual distribution in France of political and general information titles of the same frequency;
- Have an average paid circulation in France that has not exceeded 300,000 copies in the fiscal year preceding the year of grant;
- Have advertising revenues that accounted for less than 35% of total revenues.
No aid may be paid to publications:
- the contents of which resulted in a conviction by the Director of the publication which became final in the five years preceding the application for aid, pursuant to articles 24 or 24 bis the law of 29 July 1881 on press freedom;
- who do not meet the conditions laid down in the first paragraph of Article 30 of Decree No. 55-486 of 30 April 1955*;
- who have received aid to the journals of the National Book Central in the year preceding the year in which the aid was granted;
- which are a selection of articles already published in other titles.
* Article 30, paragraph 1 of Decree 30 April 1955: "Natural or legal persons who apply for grants, grants, loans and guarantees of an economic or social nature provided for by the legislation and regulations in force must show that the situation is in order, both with regard to the bodies responsible for the management of social security services and with regard to the administrations responsible for the collection of taxes and taxes".
Proceeding
It amounts to EUR 4 million, distributed among about 50 beneficiaries.
In 2021, support for national political and general information publications with low advertising resources benefited 50 publications for a total amount of €4,000,000.
The grant will be delivered in the fall of 2023 at one time.
The aid fund is divided into two sections. The allocation of appropriations between these sections is made by the Director-General for Media and Cultural Industries. This distribution ensures a degressivity of the aid allocated to each undertaking under Section 2 of the Fund.
A unit grant title shall be determined for the payment of aid under each section of the Fund.
This unit rate shall be obtained by dividing the appropriations available under each section by the number of copies actually sold in the year preceding the year in which the aid was granted by all the securities eligible for the section concerned.
For each section of the Fund, the aid allocated to each eligible publication shall be equal to the unit rate of subsidy multiplied by the number of copies actually sold by that publication in the year preceding the year in which the aid was granted. The rate is cut by 50% between 1 and 2 million copies and 100% beyond two million copies.
The amount of aid granted to a publication may not exceed 25% of its total revenue, excluding public subsidies, for the year preceding the year in which the aid was granted.
The amount of aid awarded to a publication may not be less than €1,500.
The amount of aid granted to a publishing undertaking in respect of one or more publications may not exceed 30% of its operating expenses for the year in which the aid was granted. In the event of an overpayment, the deduction shall be deducted from the aid paid to the beneficiary in respect of the following year or, failing that, the corresponding amount shall be recovered by issuing a collection order.
- Deadline for submission: 31 May 2023, at 23:59 (Paris time). No files can be considered after this date.
- Announcement of results: Fall 2023, by mail and email.
- To access the online form, click on the "Access form" button at the bottom of the page.
- Log in or create an account, then let yourself be guided.
A question?
If you have any questions about support for national publications of political and general information with low advertising resources, please contact the office of the economic regime of the press:
Media and Cultural Industries Branch (CMIB)
Office for the Economic Regime of the Press
pluralisme.presse@culture.gouv.fr
01 40 15 33 70
182 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris
The 2023 filing will open on March 1.
Other aid for media pluralism
In order to guarantee the pluralism of the press, the Ministry of Culture offers various aids to the press services:
- Support for the pluralism of regional and local periodicals
- Support for pluralism in all-online news services
- Aid for the pluralism of overseas titles
- Support for national publications of political and general information with low advertising resources (PFRP): on this page
- Support for national daily political and general information with low advertising resources (QFRP)
- Assistance to regional, departmental and local daily newspapers of political and general information with low resources of classifieds (QFRPA)