The Minister of Culture and Communication, Aurélie Filippetti, convened for the first time the conference of press publishers, this Tuesday, April 22, 2014. This meeting will allow, each year, the leaders of all the press to exchange with the State on the situation of the sector, its future and the reforms underway.
In a difficult economic context for the press, three major topics were on the agenda of the conference.
Aurélie Filippetti first recalled the vigilance of the Government on good professional practices in press companies. The Minister particularly insisted on the existing margins of progress to achieve equality between women and men in the press. She discussed with the publishers the results of the negotiations on the remuneration of photojournalists and recalled the intention of the public authorities to give a concrete follow-up to Marie Sirinelli’s report on press ethics.
News publishers and the Minister also discussed innovation and the digital transition of the press. The press can now rely on two structuring tools, with the VAT rate on the online press reduced to 2.10% in February, and the renovation of the Strategic Press Development Fund. A public reflection is open to create a statute for a non-profit endowment fund for the press.
Finally, press distribution must continue its modernization: a mission on its coherence by 2016 will deliver its conclusions in June 2014.
Aurélie Filippetti expressed the intention that necessary developments in the regulation of press distribution, in the governance of Agence France-Presse or on other structuring topics for the shareholding of press companies, find a legislative translation in 2014.