Editing Le Monde diplomatique

{{Short description|Monthly newspaper in France}}
{{distinguish|text=the daily newspaper [[Le Monde]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| image = [[File:Le Monde diplomatique front page.jpg|260px|border]]
| logo = Le_Monde_diplomatique_Logo.svg
| type = Monthly newspaper
| format = [[Berliner (format)|Berliner]]
| language = [[French language|French]], translated editions in [[English language|English]] and 22 other languages
| foundation = {{Start date and age|1954}}
| circulation = 179,943<br/>(2020, French edition)<ref>[https://www.acpm.fr/Support/le-monde-diplomatique Le Monde diplomatique] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.acpm.fr/Support/le-monde-diplomatique }}. OJD</ref>
| owners = Groupe Le Monde
| political = [[Alter-globalization]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Martell|first1=Luke|title=The sociology of globalization|date=2010|publisher=Polity|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780745636740|page=243|edition=Repr}}</ref><ref name="IPSA" /><ref name="LeMonde"/><ref>[https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/diplo/apropos/ Qui sommes-nous ?]</ref><ref>[http://est-et-ouest.fr/revue/HL044_articles/044_003.pdf {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} passé au crible]</ref>
| headquarters = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| editor = Benoît Bréville
| publisher = Maurice Lemoine
| website = {{URL|https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/|monde-diplomatique.fr}}
}}
'''{{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}''' ({{IPA|fr|lə mɔ̃d diplɔmatik}}; meaning "The Diplomatic World",<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-12-01 |title=Plus de cent vingt mille abonnés |url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2021/12/A/64120 |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=Le Monde diplomatique |language=fr}}</ref> and shortened as '''Le Diplo''' in [[French language|French]]) is a French monthly [[newspaper]] founded in 1954, offering mostly analysis and opinion on international politics, culture, and current affairs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Le Monde diplomatique - Voxeurop |url=https://voxeurop.eu/en/source/le-monde-diplomatique-2/ |publisher=voxeurop English}}</ref> {{asof|2023|post=,}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Éditions internationales |url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/diplo/int/ |year=2023 |website=Le Monde diplomatique |access-date=19 September 2023 |language=fr}}</ref> there are 33 editions (9 digital-only) in 24 languages worldwide.

Their editorial line has been described as [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weßler |first1=H. |last2=Peters |first2=B. |last3=Brüggemann |first3=M. |last4=Kleinen-v.Königslöw |first4=K. |last5=Sifft |first5=S. |title=Transnationalization of Public Spheres |date=10 July 2008 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-22983-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lAeFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q=leftleft&f=false |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Le Monde Diplomatique |url=https://www.eurotopics.net/en/148684/le-monde-diplomatique# |website=eurotopics.net |access-date=23 January 2025 |language=en}}</ref> particularly for its consistent criticisms of [[neoliberalism]]<ref name="LeMonde">{{cite news |author1=Raphaëlle Besse Desmoulières |author2=Alexis Delcambre |title=Le lustre retrouvé du " Monde diplo " |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2017/02/14/le-lustre-retrouve-du-monde-diplo_5079218_3236.html |access-date=30 January 2023 |work=Le Monde |date=14 February 2017 |language=fr}}</ref> and support of [[alter-globalization]], starting around 1973.<ref name=IPSA>{{cite web|last1=Harvey|first1=Nicolas|title=Alternative Mass Media and Worldwide Mobilization: The Difficult Crusade of Le Monde Diplomatique against Neoliberalism|url=http://paperroom.ipsa.org/papers/view/509|website=International Political Science Association|publisher=Université Rennes|access-date=8 February 2015}}</ref>

The publication is 51% owned by Le Monde diplomatique [[S.A. (corporation)|SA]], a [[subsidiary company]] of {{Lang|fr|[[Le Monde]]}}, from which it remains editorially independent.

==History==
===1954–1989===
{{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} was founded in 1954 by [[Hubert Beuve-Méry]], founder and director of {{Lang|fr|[[Le Monde]]}}, the French [[newspaper of record]]. Subtitled the "organ of diplomatic circles and of large international organisations,<ref>''" organe des cercles diplomatiques et des grandes organisations internationales "''</ref>" 5,000 copies were distributed, comprising eight pages, dedicated to [[foreign policy]] and [[geopolitics]]. Its first [[editor-in-chief]], {{ill|François Honti|fr}}, developed the newspaper as a scholarly reference journal. Honti attentively followed the birth of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], created out of the 1955 [[Asian-African Conference|Bandung Conference]], and the issues of the "[[Third World]]".

[[Claude Julien (journalist)|Claude Julien]] became the newspaper's second editor in January 1973. At this point, the circulation of {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} had increased from 5,000 to 50,000 copies; under Julien, and with the help of Micheline Paunet, the paper's circulation would grow to 120,000 in the next 20 years.<ref name="Amis">Numbers given in [http://www.amis.monde-diplomatique.fr/article1342.html "Le Monde diplomatique depuis 1954..."], ''Les Amis du Monde diplomatique'', [[Voluntary association|1901 law association]], 26 September 2006 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Around this time, as ''Le Monde'' shifted its editorial line towards favoring [[neoliberal]] ideology, ''Le Monde Diplomatique'' shifted its focus toward a radical critique of [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan policy]], and criticism of imperialistic liberal policy.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Halimi |first1=Serge |last2=Larrazet |first2=Christine |title=At the Crossroads of Media, Media Critique, and the Critique of Media critics – An Interview with Serge Halimi, Editor-in-Chief of Le Monde Diplomatique |url=https://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/500 |website=InMedia. The French Journal of Media Studies |access-date=23 January 2025 |language=en |doi=10.4000/inmedia.500 |date=15 November 2012}}</ref> Without renouncing its "[[Third-worldism]]" position, it extended the treatment of its subjects, concentrating on international [[economic]] and [[monetary]] problems, strategic relations, the [[Middle-East conflict]], etc. One of the contributors was [[Samir Frangieh]], a leftist Lebanese journalist.<ref>{{cite book|title=Who's Who in Lebanon
|year=2007|location=Beirut|publisher=Publitec Publications|edition=19th|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110945904.476|isbn=978-3-598-07734-0|page=132|doi=10.1515/9783110945904.476 }}</ref>

===1989–present===
After the November 1989 Fall of the [[Berlin Wall]] following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the 1990-1991 [[Gulf War]], the newspaper began to criticise what it described as an "American crusade".<ref name="Amis"/>

Under his leadership, {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} analysed the post-[[Cold War]] world, paying specific attention to "ethnic" conflicts that arose in this period: the [[wars in former Yugoslavia]], the 1994 [[Rwandan genocide]], the conflicts in the [[Caucasus]], etc., as well as to the new [[information technology]].

Ramonet has also published books about the media and their relationship to national societies. As noted by François Cusset, French universities have not developed an interdisciplinary approach to media studies. He says that leftist journals including {{Lang|fr|Le Monde Diplomatique}} have had an editorial approach that is committed to "critique of dominant media", both in terms of their roles in setting agendas and in enjoying status perks.<ref name="cusset">[https://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/135 François Cusset, "Media Studies: A French Blind Spot"], ''InMedia'', 1/2012; accessed 01 October 2018</ref> Both Ramonet and his successor, Serge Halimi, published books that critiqued the media from outside academic circles.<ref name="larrazet">[https://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/500?lang=en Serge Halimi and Christine Larrazet, "At the Crossroads of Media, Media Critique, and the Critique of Media critics – An Interview with Serge Halimi, Editor-in-Chief of 'Le Monde Diplomatique' "], ''InMedia'', 2/2012 (Interview 25 July 2012); accessed 01 October 2018 {{in lang|en}}</ref>

The newspaper established financial and editorial independence from {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}} in 1996, forming its own company. {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}} owns 51%; the Friends of Le Monde diplomatique and Günter Holzmann Association, comprising the paper's staff, together own 49%.<ref name="about"/>

In an editorial in January 1995, [[Ignacio Ramonet]] coined the term "[[pensée unique]]" ("single thought") to describe the supremacy of the neoliberal [[ideology]].<ref>[http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1995/01/RAMONET/1144 Ignacio Ramonet, "Editorial: La pensée unique"], {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}, Janvier 1995 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> The newspaper supported the November–December [[1995 strikes in France|1995 general strike]] in France against Prime minister [[Alain Juppé]]'s ([[Rally for the Republic|RPR]]) plan to cut [[pensions]].

Three years later, after a proposal in a 1997 editorial by Ramonet, {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} took a founding role in the creation of [[ATTAC]], an [[alter-globalisation]] [[Non-governmental organisation|NGO]]. It was founded to advocate the [[Tobin tax]], and chapters have been started throughout the world. It now supports a variety of left-wing causes. The newspaper also took an important role in the organisation of the 2001 [[Porto Alegre]] [[World Social Forum]].

Ramonet devoted considerable space to reporting on [[Hugo Chávez]], with whom he was said to have developed a close relationship, and his [[Bolivarian Revolution]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Gonzalez|first=Angel|title=Chavez's Remarkable Staying Power Chavez in Person: The President As a Master of Improvisation
|url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/venezuela0803/5.html|access-date=19 February 2015|work=PBS|date=August 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=A.C.|title=The Revolutionary Has No Clothes /Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Farce|date=2009|publisher=Encounter Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1594034459|page=126}}</ref>

Ramonet was succeeded by [[Serge Halimi]] who had a PhD in political science from the [[University of California Berkeley]].<ref name="larrazet"/> In 2018, LMD published a total of 37 print and online editions, in a total of 20 languages.<ref name="about">[https://mondediplo.com/about "About LMD"], {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}, October 2018</ref>

The August 2017 issue of the monthly was not marketed in [[Algeria]]. According to sources close to the distributor, the newspaper did not get permission to do so. [[Government of Algeria|Algerian authorities]] did not explain. The heads of the newspaper claim that it was "banned" from sale in the country because of a report by journalist Pierre Daum. He is best known for writing a book about the ''[[Harki]]s'' who stayed in Algeria after [[Algerian war|Independence]], and about the difficult social and economic situation of some [[Demographics of Algeria|young Algerians]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.algerie-focus.com/2017/08/medias-monde-diplomatique-interdit-algerie/amp/|title=Le Monde diplomatique interdit en Algérie|first=Rania|last=Aghiles|work=Algérie Focus|date=19 August 2017|access-date=20 August 2017|language=fr}}</ref>

==''Le Monde diplomatique'' SA==
[[André Fontaine]], the director of {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}}, signed a 1989 convention with Claude Julien which guaranteed the monthly's autonomy. But it gained complete statutory, economic and financial independence in 1996 with the creation of ''Le Monde diplomatique SA''. With a donation from {{ill|Günter Holzmann|fr}}, a German [[antifascist]] exiled before [[World War II]] to Bolivia, the monthly's employees acquired approximately one-quarter of the [[Capital (economics)|capital]], while ''Les Amis du Monde diplomatique'', a 1901 Law association of readers, bought another quarter.

Thus, since the end of 2000, the newspaper's employees and readers retain 49% of ''Le Monde diplomatique SA''{{'s}} capital, largely above the [[controlling interest|control stock]] necessary to control the direction and editorial line of the ''Monde diplo''. The remaining 51% is owned by {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}}.<ref name="Amis"/>

==Controversies==
===Criticism===
[[Jean-Marie Colombani]], former editor of the daily {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}}, was attributed by {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}{{-'}}s former director general [[Bernard Cassen]] as saying: "{{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} is a journal of opinion; {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}} is a journal of opinions."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cassen|first=Bernard (interviewee)|author-link=Bernard Cassen| title=On the attack|journal=New Left Review|volume=II|issue=19|date=January–February 2003|url= http://newleftreview.org/II/19/bernard-cassen-on-the-attack|language=en}}
:Interview with {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}{{-'}}s former director general Bernard Cassen. {{in lang|en}}</ref>

===9/11 conspiracy theories===
The [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] version of the July 2006 {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} sparked interest when the editors ran, on their own initiative, a three-page main story on the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] and summarised the various types of [[9/11 conspiracy theories]] (which were not specifically endorsed by the newspaper, only reviewed).<ref>[https://www.lmd.no/2006/07/11-september-%E2%80%93-en-innsidejobb/ 11.September - en innsiddejobb?], Norwegian edition of {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}, July 2006. See also English translation: Kim Bredesen, [http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-07-21-bredesen-en.html Was 9/11 an inside job?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813083428/http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-07-21-bredesen-en.html|date=13 August 2006}} and [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/5/152450/0414 other links]</ref>

In December 2006, the French version published an article by [[Alexander Cockburn]], co-editor of ''[[CounterPunch]]'', which strongly criticised the endorsement of conspiracy theories by the US left-wing, alleging that it was a sign of "theoretical emptiness."<ref>*{{in lang|en}} [http://mondediplo.com/2006/12/02conspiracy Distractions from awful reality - US: the conspiracy that wasn't], by [[Alexander Cockburn]] in {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}, December 2006 *{{in lang|fr}}[http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2006/12/COCKBURN/14270 Scepticisme ou occultisme? Le complot du 11-Septembre n'aura pas lieu], by [[Alexander Cockburn]] in {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}, December 2006 *{{in lang|fa}} [http://ir.mondediplo.com/article1024.html Iranian translation] *{{in lang|pt}} [http://diplo.uol.com.br/2006-12,a1465 PODERES IMAGINÁRIOS - A "conspiração" das Torres Gêmeas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107091414/http://diplo.uol.com.br/2006-12%2Ca1465 |date= 7 January 2007 }}</ref> The Norwegian {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}, did again however mark its difference from the mother edition by allowing [[David Ray Griffin]]'s response to Cockburn to be published in their March 2007 issue.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.diplo.no/index.php?article=1325|title=Konspirasjonsteorien om 11. september |access-date=6 December 2018}}</ref>

===Advertising===
Although {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} publishes few [[Advertising|advertisements]] in order to retain its editorial independence, it has sometimes been criticised for the quantity and nature of the published advertisements<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2002/03/A/8481|title=A propos de la publicité|date=2002-03-01|work=Le Monde diplomatique|access-date=2018-01-29|language=fr}}</ref> In November and December 2003, two-page advertisements by [[IBM]] and a car manufacturer were placed. The issues of February and March 2004 contained [[Advertising|advertisements]] by [[Microsoft]] in a "social" atmosphere with a picture of children, which led to agitation.<ref>* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.acrimed.org/article1464.html " Le Monde Diplomatique, publicitaire des multinationales ? "]</ref>

== Communication ==
On February 2, 1995, the newspaper became the first in France to have a presence on the internet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Le Monde Diplomatique "ouvre le sur la toile" |url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/images_reseaux/Le_Monde_Diplomatique-premier-site-de-presse-en-ligne-en-1995.jpg}}</ref>

{{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} has a social media platform dedicated to Friends of {{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}}.

The newspaper has the particularity of having very early on digitized on a single DVD-ROM, accessible for purchase, all the articles published in its edition in French since its foundation in 1954, [[German language|German]] (same since 1995), [[English language|English]] (same since 1996), [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (same since 1997), [[Italian language|Italian]] (same since 1997) and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] (same since 1999). Since then this voluminous archive has been converted into online access.

The monthly maintains an RSS feed and publishes on the [[Social network|social networks]] [[Facebook]] and [[Instagram]].

==Meat Atlas==
[[File:Meat_Atlas_2014_%E2%80%93_Cover.jpg|upright=.57|thumb|alt=Report on meat consumption and meat production|{{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} co-publishes the ''[[Meat Atlas]]''.]]
{{Lang|fr|Le Monde diplomatique}} co-publishes the ''[[Meat Atlas]]'', which is an annual report on meat production and consumption.<ref>[http://www.boell.de/en/2014/01/07/meat-atlas Heinrich Böll Foundation, Meat Altas], download [https://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/publications/foee_hbf_meatatlas_jan2014.pdf Meat Atlas] as pdf</ref>

==Overseas==
The ''Friends of Le Monde diplomatique'' are a [[London]]-based society that promotes the English edition.<ref>{{cite web | title=Le Monde diplomatique English edition | website=Le Monde diplomatique | date=2 November 2023 | url=https://mondediplo.com/ | access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref> It organises regular talks at The Gallery in [[Cowcross Street]], [[Farringdon, London|Farringdon]].

{{Clear}}

== See also ==
*[[Dominique Vidal (historian)|Dominique Vidal]]
*[[Slow journalism]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
*{{official website|https://mondediplo.com/}}
*[https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/ French edition] and at [http://www.exacteditions.com/exact/magazine/373/409 Exact Editions] with trial issue
* The French edition is accessible [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb343488968/date from 1954 to 1977] in [[Gallica]], the digital library of the [[BnF]]
{{div col end}}

{{Newspapers in France}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monde Diplomatique}}
[[Category:1954 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Alter-globalization]]
[[Category:Monthly newspapers]]
[[Category:Multilingual news services]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Paris]]
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1954]]
[[Category:Socialist newspapers]]