The Minister of Culture and Communication, Fleur Pellerin convened the Conference of Publishers on Tuesday, June 2 to present to them the 2014 assessment of state aid to the press, online on the website of the Ministry.
Fleur Pellerin wanted to take advantage of this privileged moment of exchange with those in charge of the French press to present to them the main lines of the ambitious reform that she wants to implement in 2015.
' This reform must have two main lines », said Fleur Pellerin, to promote the pluralism of ideas in the absolute respect of your independence and to accompany you effectively in your innovations, your creations, without which the press could be condemned to decline.”
The first major development is that direct aid to pluralism, which was previously reserved for so-called political and general information (IPG) newspapers, is extended to periodicals which also contribute to the quality of our national conversation. Weekly, monthly and quarterly data will benefit from the measure this year.
The second pillar of the reform is indirect aid. Fleur Pellerin announced that the postal aids would continue to be attributed to the so-called political and general press, as well as to the new press category of "knowledge and knowledge", the press of "leisure and entertainment" no longer falling within the objectives defined under State aid to the press.
The Minister also expressed her desire that all press families continue to benefit from the super-reduced VAT rate. The Minister is also fighting in Brussels to ensure that the book and the press benefit from an equivalent VAT rate regardless of their support.
The third part of "the reform I want to initiate, concluded Fleur Pellerin, this is support for emergence and innovation. In the light of Jean-Marie Charon’s report on the new press ecosystem, I want to be with the press that tries, that experiments and invents"
The Minister announced the opening of the Strategic Fund to more actors, the creation of a fund to support the creation of press companies that can also cover operating expenses and the launch of a discussion with all stakeholders, to see how the Ministry can effectively and appropriately accompany cross-experimentation, or even the creation of an incubator dedicated to coughing up the media of tomorrow.
The details of these reforms and the amounts that will be allocated to them will be specified at the start of the September semester, based on the conclusions of the reports entrusted to Emmanuel Giannesini and to Arcep on the conditions for the exit of the Schwartz agreements on 31 December, and the broad lines of the reform it intends to implement before the end of the year in order to accompany them in their technological evolution and to support them in their contributions.
The 2014 results of the press aid, as well as its explanatory note, are available here:
The Minister’s speech is available at:
You can also find Jean-Marie Charon’s report at:
