L'Express is a
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
weekly news magazine. When founded in 1953 during the
First Indochina WarThe First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
, it was modelled on the
USThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
magazine
TIMETime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
.
History
The magazine was co-founded by
Jean-Jacques Servan-SchreiberJean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, often referred to as JJSS was a French journalist and politician. He co-founded L'Express in 1953 with Françoise Giroud, and then went on to become president of the Radical Party in 1971...
, future president of the Radical Party, and
Françoise GiroudFrançoise Giroud, born France Gourdji was a French journalist, screenwriter, writer and politician.-Biography:...
, who had earlier edited
ELLEElle may refer to:*Elle, Central African Republic*Elle , a fashion publication*Ellé, a river in France*Elle , a female given name*Elle , a Sri Lankan game similar to baseball*Ælle of Sussex, a Saxon king...
and went on to become France's first Minister of Women's Affairs in 1974 and
Minister of CultureA culture minister is a Cabinet position in some governments responsible for protecting the national heritage of a country and promoting cultural expression....
in 1976. The magazine was supportive of the policies of
Pierre Mendès-FrancePierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...
in Indochina, and in general had a left-of-centre orientation. The magazine opposed the war in Algeria, and especially the use of
tortureElements of the French Armed Forces as well as of the opposing Algerian National Liberation Front made use of torture during the Algerian War of Independence , creating an ongoing public controversy. Pierre Vidal-Naquet estimates that there were "possibly hundreds of thousands of instances of...
.. In March 1958, as a result of an article of
Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
reviewing the book
La QuestionLa Question is a book by Henri Alleg, published in 1958. It is notorious for precisely describing the methods of torture used by French paratroopers during the Algerian War from the point of view of a victim...
by
Henri AllegHenri Alleg , born Henri Salem, is a French-Algerian journalist, director of the "Alger républicain" newspaper, and a member of the French Communist Party...
, the magazine was prevented from being published by the French Government. In order to resume publication, L'Express had to print a new issue without the incriminated article.
François MauriacFrançois Mauriac was a French author; member of the Académie française ; laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature . He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur .-Biography:...
was a regular contributor with his
Bloc-Notes column but left L'Express when
Charles De GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
returned to power.
In 1964, a number of journalists, including
Jean DanielJean Daniel, is an Algerian-born French-Jewish journalist and author. He is the founder and executive editor of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly.Daniel is a Jewish humanist in the venerable tradition of the French Left...
and
André GorzAndré Gorz , pen name of Gérard Horst, born Gerhard Hirsch, also known by his pen name Michel Bosquet, was an Austrian and French social philosopher. Also a journalist, he co-founded Le Nouvel Observateur weekly in 1964...
, quit
L'Express to found
Le Nouvel ObservateurLe Nouvel Observateur is a weekly French newsmagazine. Based in Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation ....
. Servan-Schreiber turned l'Express into a less politically engaged publication, and the circulation rose from 150,000 to 500,000 copies in 3 years.
In 1971, as a result of Servan-Schreiber's political activities as a deputy of the Radical Party, nine journalists of L'Express, including Claude Imbert, left the magazine and created
Le PointLe Point is a French weekly news magazine. It was founded in 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of L'Express, which was then owned by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, a député of the Parti Radical...
to counter what they perceived as the "
current breed of French intellectuals in the press and elsewhere, with their leftist dogmas and complacent nihilism."..
In 1977, Servan-Schreiber sold his magazine to Jimmy Goldsmith.
Jean-François RevelJean-François Revel was a French politician, journalist, author, prolific philosopher and member of the Académie française from June 1998...
became director in October 1978.
He was replaced by Yves Cuau in May 1981. In 1987, L'Express was sold to C. G. E.. Yann de l'Ecotais became the new director, until 1994 when he was replaced by
Christine OckrentChristine Ockrent is a Belgian journalist whose career has principally centered on French television.Daughter of Belgian diplomat Charles Ockrent, she was born in Brussels, Belgium. She graduated from Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris in 1965. She worked for American television and...
. In 1995, L'Express was sold to CEP communications, a filial of
HavasHavas is the second largest advertising group in France and is a "Global advertising and communications services group" and the sixth-largest global advertising and communications group worldwide, operating on the communications consulting market through three main operational divisions:*Euro RSCG...
.
Denis JeambarDenis Jeambar is a French journalist.-Biography:Having started his career at Paris-Match in 1970, he joined Le Point in 1972, rising to chief of its political staff in 1981. In 1988 he became editor-in-chief, as well as editor-in-chief of the political and cultural staffs...
became the new director.
In 1998, after Vivendi took control of Havas, the magazine returned under its control. After the collapse of Vivendi, L'Express was sold in 2002 to
SocpresseSocpresse was a French corporation which controlled the conservative daily newspaper Le Figaro, the weekly magazine L'Express, 40% of the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche, Valeurs Actuelles, and the football club FC Nantes. The company was acquired by the Dassault in September 2006...
(80% owned by
Dassault GroupDassault Group, is a French group of companies led by Serge Dassault.Managing directors are Claude Dassault and Olivier Costa De Beauregard.- Subsidiaries :*Dassault Aviation;...
). It has been bought in 2006 by long term partner Roularta. In 2008 L'Express reaches 2,3 million readers each week through its magazine and nearly 2 million internet users every month.
Journalists who wrote for L'Express
- Raymond Aron
Raymond-Claude-Ferdinand Aron was a French philosopher, sociologist, journalist and political scientist.He is best known for his 1955 book The Opium of the Intellectuals, the title of which inverts Karl Marx's claim that religion was the opium of the people -- in contrast, Aron argued that in...
- André Gorz
André Gorz , pen name of Gérard Horst, born Gerhard Hirsch, also known by his pen name Michel Bosquet, was an Austrian and French social philosopher. Also a journalist, he co-founded Le Nouvel Observateur weekly in 1964...
- Franz-Olivier Giesbert
- Christophe Barbier
External links