France to give free newspaper subs to 18 year olds

The latest weird-ass move from French President Sarkozy is to bail out newspapers by giving kids free daily newspaper subscriptions on their 18th birthdays, which is supposed to instill "the habit of reading the press." I wonder if he'll also give out free bridle and tackle to instill "the habit of dressage." How about stimulating the French press by giving all the kids free, uncensored broadband?

Sarkozy also announced a ninefold rise in the state's support for newspaper deliveries and a doubling of its annual print advertising outlay amid a swelling industry crisis.

Sarkozy argued in a speech to publishers that the measures are needed because the global financial crisis has compounded woes for a sector already suffering from falling ad revenues and subscriptions.

Sarkozy offers new help for French print media (via Beyond the Beyond)

• [Ugly Canuck]

  Daily newspaper readership amongst the populace correlates very very strongly with how “democratic” a nation is; “democracy” defined as a constellation of attributes each of which can be assigned scalar values for the study.
  Encouragement of daily news reading is one of the very best ways to foment democracy and its ideal of engaged, participating, members of society.
  Another strong correlate is simply the number of Associations and Clubs the average citizen belongs to. The higher that number, again the more “democratic” the society. The studies show that what type of Association or Clubs are belonged top is irrelevant – it is the engagement of citizens with each other concerning as wide a variety of topics as possible that is the key, and the informing of that populace ought to indeed be (and it is a legitimate governmental concern to encourage its Citizens to be more democratic) subsidized by the Government. With no editorial control, natch. Just as Arts Funding ought not be vetted by the Moral Majority for every Grant.
  Just as is the case with health care, which the French have gotten closer to right than the USA, that’s for sure.

• [barjoe]

  Hey, some countries went to war to serve their own interests (and save the free world of course).

  Sarko can surely throw around a bit of French taxpayers’ money to help maintain a free(ish) press in France if he wants.

  Its not as if he’ll be significantly increasing competition with any other countries’ newspapers.

  Whether it’ll work of course is another matter.

• [biffpow]

  I’m going to go against the flow here and state that I think this is a fine idea, any vaguely applicable European laws be damned.

  And honestly I don’t know why so many people seem so intent on hastening the demise of newspapers. They’re the bedrock of the media, people. You take away the print version of the NY Times, and you think the online version will employ as many reporters and editors and maintain the level of in-depth reportage? It won’t. It can’t. Financially, there’s no way to do so.

  And I love blogs, I read many of them every day. They’re informative and amazing resources. But they are not the same as a newspaper and, in fact, many of them get their stories and leads from newspaper articles (including this one).

  You put newspapers in the hands of 18 year olds, you give them a) something to actually read offline (ah, the novelty), b)increased literacy, C)a deeper window into current events, and d) a more educated peer group (and populace of new voters).

  You put newspapers in the hands of all 18 year olds, and you give the papers themselves a) higher distribution numbers, which means their ads are seen by more eyes (and younger eyes), which means they can likely sell more ads and more easily become self-sustaining, and b) a future audience by (hopefully) getting these 18 year olds to see the value of newspapers and develop the habit of wanting to read them.

  How is this a “bad idea” exactly?

  Oh wait, I forgot–educated voters and an empowered media are the last thing government wants. Yeah, I suppose this doesn’t make any sense to a lot of people….

  And Cory, when did you become so cynical about print newspapers? You can’t seriously think giving 18 year olds free broadband would achieve anything more productive than free newspapers. They’d Facebook (tetelivre?), look at porn, and play games. With a newspaper, at worst, they do the crossword and read the comics. Or they don’t read it at all and someone else in the house does.

  Frankly, I wish this were happening in the US, and I’m guessing there are thousands of English 101 professors who’d agree.

• [erissian]

  The problem with newspapers dying out:

  http://www.south20th.com/index.php?date=2008-03-02

• [Billy Blight]

  Well, at my college campus they give away PILES of news papers. Dallas Morning News, USA Today, and the New York Times are there every weekday.

  And I have to FIGHT to get a NYT in the morning and the stands are dry at the end of every day. Giving out papers for free does work, clearly.

  Oh, I’m at University of North Texas, by the way.

• [merreborn]

  The good:

  This has the potential to help keep young voters informed — and well informed voters are the bedrock of a healthy democracy. In a country where Fox News has a large hand in shaping political discourse… I’d think we should be looking to do the same.

  Millions of American voters are woefully ignorant and uninformed. Easing access to information is the solution.

  The bad:

  You ultimately serve those who pay you. If the government is paying the bill, it’s going to be awfully hard to publish criticism of said government.

  If the government gets to determine which paper people receive via this program, or they make available a “menu” of approved papers, obviously all papers on that list are going to have a be in an awkward position. Do you publish the truth, and risk being removed from the “approved papers” list, losing millions of dollars in revenue?

  The only way to guarantee true freedom of the press would be to allow each recipient to elect to receive *any* paper of their choice, regardless of government approval.

  Otherwise all you have on your hands is a propaganda machine.

• [djn]

  I can only agree with Biffpow:
  This is a perfectly sensible, if slightly radical, idea. I hope it’s copied.

  And compare it to other bailout packages for different industries. This manages to send the newspapers some money almost as a side effect of something that would have been a decent idea anyway – as government support goes, that’s unusually elegant.

• [Piers W]

  It’s interesting that #17 OneofBrunenG sees the French press as the tool of government. Here in the UK it’s seen in some quarters as the other way round.

  The Sun, the Mail, the Times, and the Telegraph all have their proprietor’s right of centre agendas. If you want to know why what used to be the Labour party loudly and frequently announces lunatic policies to do with civil liberties, surveillance etc. that’s why.

  Why the French Press is so called when no Frenchman I’ve ever met would allow metal to go anywhere near his very good, but very milky and weak, coffee, who knows?

• [Takuan]

  why doesn’t he give them a printing press instead?

• [zuzu]

  Jusqu’ici tout va bien…

• [mycophage]

  This week’s “On the Media” (1/30) has a more sinister explanation: Sarkozy is best buds with the major newspaper publishers in France; this is a great way to improve circulation, put money in his friends’ hands, and encourage future subscriptions.

• [El Stinko]

  #9 I came in here to post exactly what you said. I luves me BoingBoing, plus the abundance of other information and news I get on the Internets, but I still treasure my daily dose of NYTimes newspaper every day on the train. A more technological solution that doesn’t rely on so much solid waste will probably eventually present itself, but I will miss sharing the broadsheets with my wife on our commute.

• [Ugly Canuck]

  Speaking of news, here’s some about a new insect plague….it must fit under one of those heads on that Board from Them…http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7865240.stm

• [Rick.]

  The Los Angeles Times was dumping free papers at my doorstep for a couple of weeks. I never asked for them nor was I asked if I wanted them. And I’ve never had that happen in 15 years of living in LA. Weird.

• [Anonymous]

  This is fantastic – as a 19 year old who regularly scrapes together the money for a £1 broadsheet news paper I really do like the sound of that.

  It will be a decent, literate paper that’s being bought for them, yes? If it’s the French version of the Sun then the youth of France are in unspeakable lingual peril.

• [mdh]

  Iz ze Craiegzleeest eempakhting ohn ze profeets?

• [Xopher]

  If they really want to stimulate the French Press, they should supply a year’s worth of free coffee.

• [philoponia]

  I wish I had free newspaper

• [OneofBrunenG]

  Could be a good idea, IF… french press was really free press. It’s NOT. Quasi all paper media are under government influence (and we have the same problem with the TV). Because the majority of Tycoon press owners are Sarko’s good friends.

  Here, the newspaper press problem is that what info is available on the net, is frequently better and less unbiased than on paper form. Mr Sarkosy is known phoning to journalist and threatening then when i doesn’t like what they write. In France, some recent laws are restricting journalist freedom of speech, anonymity of sources, rights to criticize rich and powerfull people. All this resulting in auto censorship.

  I doubt the rare “free” newspapers will benefit from this idea. Most probable thing, is it will be a disguised form of money transfert from taxpayers to Sarko’s friends.

• [zio_donnie]

  hey people i still love a dead tree paper and i do think that the internet is good for information but not a good source for real journalism. but as much as i’d like kids loving newspapers this is wrong.

  what subscriptions would be given for free NYTimes, WP and Newsweek, liberation,, le figaro? what about the others? or you choose just by how many copies they sold in the last poll? and if a paper gets a goverment subsidy will it be eager to investigate the goverment’s deeds? would it bite the hand that feeds it? should i believe the various “independent” commities that would inevitably arise to guarantee that the press is still independent? and if i started a paper just for selling goverment subsidied subscriptions? maybe kissing sarkozy’s ass would get me a better contract?

  the press is called the 4th power for a reason. if it’s paid for by the goverment it’s just a propagandistic leaflet that has no credibility whatsoever.

  i understand the love for the paper medium (and i share it) but if this is the only way to keep journalism alive the press is already dead and buried. if this were about saving and installing a reading culture they should distribute BOOKS. books teach you to love reading newspapers just feed the news. if you don’t learn to read all the papers in the world will not create a reading culture

• [Shukketsushi]

  psh, the paper age is dead. newspapers are out of date. i get all my news and info online, its faster and u dont have to pay. newspaper companies just dont want their business to end. they really shouldnt fight it because in the long run its just gunna make a poor investment and they’ll lose money.

• [ridl]

  it seems like some kind of public or non-profit funding might be a good way to save the physical press.

  then again, that’s a dangerous breach of seperation of powers…

• [Takuan]

  http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/printing-the-nyt-costs-twice-as-much-as-sending-every-subscriber-a-free-kindle

• [Nixar]

  Naboléon doesn’t understand the internet. He’s killing the internet here just to please his rich buddies, who happen to own convicted monopolistic mobile network operators.

• [catbeller]

  Without newspapers, democracy is dead. A population that gets its news from gossip blogs is a herd of decapitated cattle.

  “Drudge is king”, said one of the news media lords. Really. So we just make news up now.

  Without the great news organizations that the world has depended on for the last sixty years, we have the DC press corps and Chris Matthews telling us what we need to know. And we’ve seen what we get from that setup.

  This is the civilization that is poised to save or destroy the world that has existed these past ten thousand years. And it doesn’t read a newspaper.

  Mankind’s cause of death: teh stupid.

• [zio_donnie]

  so the kids would start to read the papers just because they get them for free? what about their parents that stoped buying them in the first place? they are discarded as citizens just because they are old and stupid enough to not buy the paper? this is wrong in so many ways that i can’t even think of all of them.

  it’s breaching the separation of powers, since i don’t see how you can guarantee freedom of press in a state paid newspaper

  it’s illegal under european law since it is a blatant attempt to save private enterprises with taxpayer money

  it’s stupid because if the very people that grew up with newspapers deem them worthless i don’t see how new generations will find them useful

  it will be absurdly expensive and will take funds from more useful projects

  i believe that newspapers hold an important role in information and that internet is not a panacea for everything but this proposal is just dumb.

  unfortunately the french seem to have substituted a theocracy for a stateocracy where the goverment is responsible for everything in your life even your taste in information.

• [Sekino]

  I don’t see a problem with free newspapers and I agree with Canuck (I am in Canadian as well) and Biffpow’s points.

  I started reading the newspapers as a small kid because it was on the breakfast table every morning. I’m not ready to kick the printed press to the curb. Unfortunately, I am not as politically savvy as others to comment about Sarkosy’s agenda. However, if the worse I had to complain about my government was giving out free papers, I’d be writing a lot less angry letters to a lot less useless departments.

• [Anonymous]

  “How about stimulating the French press by giving all the kids free, uncensored broadband?”

  What does high-speed internet have to do with coffee?

• [girasol369]

  Obscure usage clarification:

  One could give them a bridle and saddle to encourage the habit of dressage.

  Or one could give them “tack” (which means the bridle, saddle and any other accessories the horse wears).

  I think “tackle” is just for fishing and football.

• [Itsumishi]

  Just because so many people seemed to have missed this

  One of Sarkozy’s solutions to help the industry is a pilot program that will give teenagers celebrating their 18th birthday a free, yearlong subscription to any general news daily of their choice. The publisher is to give the newspapers away, while the state pays for the deliveries.

  So providing the article is true then I can’t see how it would violate any free press laws and yes the kids get the choice in what paper they receive.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    The publisher is to give the newspapers away, while the state pays for the deliveries.

    But then how does that help the industry? Getting them hooked while they’re young?

• [Anonymous]

  For 11 years, NY Times, WSJ, Gannett and many local papers and universities have participated in the College Readership Program, placing free newspaper racks on and near campuses, and in some instances offering free subscriptions to students.

  Student governments usually enter agreements to carry a national paper or two and a local or regional paper; the money comes from a fee assessed to students. Here in south Louisiana, it’s the NY Times, WSJ and the local Gannett paper. Those racks are consistently cleaned out daily.

• [wolfiesma]

  American version: “I turned 18 and all I got was this lousy draft card!”

• [wolfiesma]

  Tak@31, If you go to amazon, the front page graphic is the kindle with alternating pages of boingboing and the nyt. Boohyah!

• [Certhas]

  #1 said it perfectly: “[online] u dont have to pay”

  So if people will, due to various reasons, stop paying for news and real journalism, then the state needs to save it.

  Otherwise it will be FoxNews to the power of ten from all directions.

  For those who worry about separation of press and state, that is a valid concern. But in Europe many people find it ridiculous that you can just leave the press to the free market and expect it deliver anything but the most sensationalist trivializations. The state financed media in Germany certainly stands up to government pressure more then the US press did in the last few years.

  An Argentinian friend once asked me, honestly surprised, how you could expect a free market based news paper to tell the truth, rather then just what people want to hear, especially given that there is no democratic overview of its functioning.

  To assume that independence of the press somehow has something to do with state financed vs market based is a stupid false dichotomy. (for more evidence of public broadcasting done quite right, see the BBC).

• [Certhas]

  Likewise for the articles comment: “Why not give them broadband!”

  Because having access to all the information out there is useless if there is no one out there employing the best and most idealistic and ethical journalists, producing high quality information.

  And of the money paid to the broad band providers nothing goes to these people.

• [bobcoyote]

  This will definitely end well. How do you say “Millwall Brick” in French?

• [Takuan]

  yeah!