Le Figaro

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Le Figaro

Le Figaro is one of the leading French

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
morning daily newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
s. Its editorial line is conservative

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social term whose meaning has changed in different countries and time periods, but which usually indicates support for the status quo or the status quo ante....
and has generally been supportive of the Rally for the Republic

Rally for the Republic

The Rally for the Republic , was a France right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism....
(RPR) political party and its successor, the Union for a Popular Movement

Union for a Popular Movement

The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right List of political parties in France.Founded in 2002, the party has an absolute majority in the French National Assembly and a plurality in the French Senate....
(UMP). Its circulation was 342,445 in 2005 (365,682 in 2002).

The Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
ian paper was founded as a satirical weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto

Motto

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Encyclopedia

Le Figaro is one of the leading French

France

Newspaper

Conservatism

Rally for the Republic

Union for a Popular Movement

Paris

Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used....
from Le Mariage de Figaro, a play by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. (The motto, "Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur" translates as "Without the freedom to criticise, there is no true praise".) It was published somewhat irregularly until 1854, when it was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant. By 1866 it had gained the greatest circulation of any newspaper in France; its first daily edition, that of 16 November 1866 sold 56,000 copies. Albert Wolff

Albert Wolff

Albert Wolff was a French conducting and composer of Netherlands descent. Most of his career was spent in European venues, with the exception of two years that he spent as a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and a few years in Buenos Aires during the Second World War....
, Émile Zola

Émile Zola

?mile Fran?ois Zola was an influential France writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of Naturalism , an important contributor to the development of Naturalism , and a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus....
, Alphonse Karr and Jules Claretie were among the paper's early contributors.

On March 16, 1914, Gaston Calmette

Gaston Calmette

Gaston Calmette was a France journalist.In January 1914 Calmette, who had been editor of the newspaper Le Figaro since 1902, launched a campaign against Minister of Finance Joseph Caillaux, who had introduced progressive taxation and was known for his pacifist stance towards Germany....
, the editor of Le Figaro, was assassinated by Henriette Caillaux

Henriette Caillaux

Henriette Caillaux was a Paris, France socialite and second wife of the former Prime Minister of France. She is remembered as an assassin.Born Henriette Raynouard, she was having an affair with Joseph Caillaux while he was still married; but eventually he divorced and the two married....
, the wife of a former Prime Minister of France

Prime Minister of France

The Prime Minister of France in French Fifth Republic is the functional head of the government and French government ministers of France. The head of state in France is the President of the French Republic....
after he published a letter that cast serious doubt on her husband's integrity.

By the start of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, Le Figaro had become France's leading newspaper. After the war it became the voice of the upper middle class

Upper middle class

The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term lower middle class used for the group at the other end of the middle class scale and the regular middle class....
, and continues to maintain a conservative position.

In 1922 Le Figaro was purchased by perfume millionaire François Coty

François Coty

Fran?ois Coty was a France perfume manufacturer and the founder of the Fascism far-right league Solidarit? Fran?aise, a paramilitary organization founded in 1933, during Edouard Daladier's government supported by the Cartel des gauches ....
. In 1975 Le Figaro was bought by Robert Hersant

Robert Hersant

Robert Hersant was a France newspaper magnate with right-wing political views....
. In 1999 the Carlyle Group

Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group is a global private equity investment firm, based in Washington, D.C., with more than $91.5 billion of equity capital under management....
obtained a 40% stake in the paper, which it later sold in March 2002. , Le Figaro is controlled by Serge Dassault

Serge Dassault

Serge Dassault is a France entrepreneur and Conservatism politician. According to Forbes magazine, he was the 56th richest person in the world....
, a conservative businessman and politician best known for running the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation

Dassault Aviation

Dassault Aviation is a France Aerospace manufacturer of military aircraft, regional jet and business jet jet aircraft, a subsidiary of Dassault Group....
, which he inherited from his father, its founder, Marcel

Marcel Dassault

Marcel Dassault, born Marcel Bloch, was a France aircraft industrialist.After graduating from the lyc?e Condorcet, ?cole Sup?rieure d'Ing?nieurs en ?lectronique et ?lectrotechnique and ?cole Nationale Sup?rieure de l'A?ronautique et de l'Espace, he invented a type of aircraft propeller used by the French army during World War I a...
(1892–1986).

Highly controversial both inside and outside the newspaper is its ownership by a person who also controls a major military supplier, as well as being a mayor and senator

French Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of France, presided over by a List of Presidents of the French Senate.The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly of France; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and enjoy generally less media coverage....
from the ruling UMP

Union for a Popular Movement

Olivier Dassault

Olivier Dassault is a France politician, currently serving as a deputy in the French National Assembly. He is also the son of Serge Dassault and grandchild of Marcel Dassault....
is a member of the French National Assembly

French National Assembly

The France National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the French Fifth Republic. The other is the French Senate ....
for the same party. In response, Dassault remarked in an interview on the public radio station France Inter

France Inter

France Inter is a major France Public broadcasting network and part of Radio France....
, that "newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas", and that "left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas."

Footnotes

External links

in Gallica
in Gallica 2, the new digital library of the BnF
BNF

BNF is an initialism with various meanings:...

Le Figaro

See also

Footnotes

External links