Whether it is for a foreign language test, a summary note, or for your personal readings, the articles you will have to decipher systematically have an intention. They often have a political aim, or when it is not deliberate, they have a political color.
Understanding the political positioning of the newspaper in question will allow you to determine more accurately and quickly in which political universe the author exposes his arguments.
Here is therefore a review of all newspapers, according to their political orientation. To better understand what is called left or right, you will consult with interest this article on the question:
→ Understanding left-right political positions
Will be exposed first the political tendencies of foreign newspapers, then the political tendencies of French media.
British newspapers’ orientation
British dailies
- The Daily Telegraph: conservative (center right, right-wing).
- The Times: conservative (center right, right-wing).
- The Guardian: Labor (left)
- The Independent: Liberal Democrat and Labor (center and left)
British weeklies
- The economist: center. (liberal on economics, progressive on social issues)
- The Observer: Labor (left, like The Guardian)
Orientation of American newspapers
American dailies
For each American newspaper, we have indicated the political tendency and then the number of readers, based on 2022 data.
- USA Today: center[= center right in France], popular (≈2,300,000 readers)
- New York Times: left in the United States[= center left in France], close to the Democrats, progressive (≈2,100,000 readers)
- Wall Street Journal: center, economics and finance specialty, non-contradictory (≈1,337,000 readers)
- Los Angeles Times: left in the United States[= center left in France], close to the Democrats, progressive (≈467,000 readers)
- New York Post: center in the United States [= center right in France] (≈424,721 readers)
- Chicago Tribune: conservative, traditionally close to the Republicans (≈385,000 readers)
- Washington Post: center in the United States [= center-right in France; bought by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon] (≈357,000 readers)
- Washington Times: right-wing in the United States, close to the Republicans, originally linked to the Church
American weeklies
- Time (Magazine): center-left in the US
- Newsweek: Democrats (left in the USA = center right in France)
Orientation of Spanish newspapers
Spanish dailies
- El País: center left liberal
- El Mundo: center-right conservative
- La Razón: right-wing
- Vanguardia: right-wing
- ABC: right-wing
Orientations of German newspapers
German dailies
- Bild: popular, conservative and nationalist right, Atlanticist
- Der Tagesspiegel: liberal right
- Die Tageszeitung: left-wing
- Die Welt: conservative right
- Frankfurter Allgemeine: right-wing
- Süddeutsche Zeitung: center-left
German weekly newspapers
- Der Spiegel : center left
- Die Zeit: center
- Focus: right
Italian newspaper orientations
Italian daily newspapers
For each Italian newspaper, the political orientation is indicated, followed by the approximate number of readers (statistics based in August and September2021) to give an idea of the impact of these titles.
- Corriere della sera : center, pro-EU, liberal (≈250,000 readers)
- La Repubblica : center-left (≈160,000 readers)
- Il Sole 24 ore: center, specializing in economics and finance, non-contradictory (≈134,000 readers)
- Avvenire: newspaper of the Vatican, conservative (≈105,000 readers)
- La Stampa: center, liberal (≈106,000 readers)
- Il Resto del Carlino: center right, conservative (≈70,000 readers)
- Il Fatto Quotidiano: populist, close to the Five Star movement (≈52,000 readers)
- Il Giornale: far right, close to the Northern League and Brothers of Italy (≈37,000 readers)
- La Verità: far right, close to the Northern League and Brothers of Italy (≈31,000 readers)
Italian weeklies
- Il Venerdì di Repubblica: center left
- Famiglia Cristiana: Catholic, conservative
- D (La Repubblica): center left
- L’Espresso: left-wing
- Internazionale: left
- Panorama: right
Orientation of French newspapers
French dailies
In addition to the orientation of the French press, we show the statements as to the paid circulation of these dailies for the year 2020 – 2021.
- Ouest France : pro-European and liberal (≈630,000 readers)
- Le Monde: center-left (≈450,000 readers)
- Le Figaro: right-wing (≈350,000 readers)
- Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France : popular and local (≈250,000 readers)
- Sud Ouest: controversial orientation (≈210,000 readers)
- La Voix du Nord : left-wing and proximity (≈200,000 readers)
- Les Echos: liberal (≈130,000 readers)
- Libération: left-wing (≈90,000 readers)
- La Croix : Catholic left (≈85,000 readers)
- L’Humanité: far left, communist (≈38,000 readers)
- L’Opinion: liberal, European and pro-business.
French weeklies
In addition to the political color of these French magazines, we also show statements about the paid circulation of these dailies for the year 2020 – 2021.
- L’Obs/Le Nouvel Observateur : left (≈200,000 readers)
- L’Express: right (≈170,000 readers)
- Le Point: right-wing (≈280,000 readers)
- Marianne: anti-system and sovereignist since 2018 (≈130,000 readers)
- Courrier international: left-wing (≈160,000 readers)
- Journal du dimanche : right-wing (≈150,000 readers)
- Le Canard enchaîné : left-wing protestor
- Charlie Hebdo: left
- Alternatives économiques : left (≈67,000 readers)
- Valeurs actuelles : far right
- Minute: far right
Continuous news channels
In addition to the political trend of news channels in France, we show their audience share for the year2021. These statistics are changing rapidly.
- BFMTV: center right (2.9% audience share)
- CNews: extreme right (2% audience share)
- LCI: right-wing (1.1% audience share)
- Franceinfo: center-left (0.7% audience share)
- France 24: Francophone oriented
- Euronews: pro-European
French TV channels
In addition to the political tendency of these French TV media, we also indicate the audience share of these channels for the year2021. This gives us an idea of their potential media impact.
- TF1: right (19.7% audience share)
- France 2: left (14.7% audience share)
- France 3: left-wing and local (9.4% audience share)
- M6: popular (9.1% audience share)
- France 5: left-wing (3.3% audience share)
- Arte: left-wing and pro-European (2.5% audience share)
Any comment? Any thoughts on the media? A correction? Propose your own analysis in the comments below. If you are interested in the news, you can also extend your reading with our year-by-year news summaries, which offer a pretty dramatic perspective on the major changes of recent years, both nationally and internationally.
→ General Knowledge Topics
→ Year-by-Year News Summaries
bought a special issue of current values on the mysteries of France simply out of interest in the question, history being my passion. I discover articles strewn with pretentious and nationalist phrases in the extreme accompanied by a shower of erudite quotations, some of which do not even have their place in the article. A pretension that destroys the instruction that the well-chosen subject would have wanted to communicate to the reader. some articles are however very interesting, but I remain very disappointed.
L’Express, ranked on the right? Ah good…
I didn’t understand your logic Albert, can you elaborate?
To better understand, for French newspapers, we have: extreme left, left, center, right = extreme left and extreme right = center right
Personally, to inform myself I mainly read google news, the intercept, l’express and international nyt, then once a month I take a look at wikiLeaks. Otherwise, I diversify the whole thing thanks to the tweeter information streams that go everywhere.
There’s no more to the right, bro
Current Values is a far-right title? Really ?
Thank you for this short summary of journal’s political orientation. I find it very useful.
I’m from Germany and you can’t say that Frankfurter Allgemeine is straight. It is one of the most serious journals here. It’s totally not right. Anything!!!!
Hello EL PAIS is written EL PAÍS there is an error in your list.
Pioute: yes, sad fact indeed, many press titles are only collections of AFP dispatches, with formatting as their only contribution. Deplorable especially when one is aware of the leftist and pro-Palestinian bias (this goes hand in hand) of this public pharmacy. This serious propaganda can be circumvented by international press organs, for example http://fr.sputniknews.com – also obvious bias (normal) but which changes us a little from the omnipresent single thought.
Yes, the right-left notion is not structuring, it is a historical notion today. There are several fracture lines, 1) the defense of human rights (without the citizen) in a doctrinaire way; more broadly the opposition of positive law (defined as the autonomy of law in relation to ethics) and natural law. 2) The nationals, Europeanists and globalists. 3) Democracy versus technocracy. 4) Holistic communitarian society against indivisibility of the people and therefore individualism. 5) Statism against the police state. Question newspapers the figaro is perhaps one of the best with the figarovox. That said, today’s specialized journals and conferences are more interesting than newspapers. One could say that the best newspaper is the AFP…
@Gonzo: hello friend, I agree with you on the paradigm shift that affects the right-left divide. But this is not the first time this has happened. After the revolution, the deputies in favor of the royal veto placed themselves on the right and those against, on the left. During the Cold War until the fall of the Berlin Death in 1989 Karl Marxists and Keynesians were the left, while pro-Smith/Hayek liberals were the right. Now the divide separates the rooted (identitarians, sovereignists, religious) from the emancipated (cosmopolitans, third-worlders, libertarians). I can only advise you to read Chantal Delsol’s essay Le Populisme-les Demeurés de l’Histoire released in 2015.
Personally I do not agree Réac-Identitaire, right and left are becoming more and more subjective notions, and the polarization of political forces is no longer the same for everyone. So qualify your statements a little, especially since they seem anything but objective 😉
Hello, in the weekly press you forget (voluntarily?) Valeurs Actuelles, the only one really on the right. Because Le Point belongs to the soft right, that is to say, subject to the moral diktat of the all-powerful left. And I confirm that the Express is left-wing, liberal-libertarian.
How to join Sciences Po? Certainly not by reading this incomplete page. For the French press, there is a lack of major national titles, such as Valeurs Actuelles (conservative right) or La Croix (Catholic center-right), and especially all the regional press. When we know that Ouest France is the first daily publication, and by far, of the French press, we can only conclude that all this is not very serious.
In response to #13, it’s more complicated than that: Le Monde Diplomatique is an integral part of Le Monde Group, and technically belongs to financiers. On the other hand, its writing is independent, yes. http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2010/07/HALIMI/19372
The real independent press is Mediapart and Over there if I’m there… Let it be said…
You are forgetting Le Monde Diplomatique my dear Philippe.
Good evening, to my knowledge, and unless I am mistaken, there are only 2 independent newspapers in France, le canard E and Charlie H. The rest belong to big financiers, Minc, Draghi, Niel, Bollo, etc. ..through their sprawling, octopus-like groups. Have a good evening
Nobody talks about the newspaper: Le Parisien is nevertheless the most sold in France…
Marianne, seems to me to be now if not far right, in any case rather conservative. Nothing to do with the bobo left.
Totally agree with #7, La Razón is on the right, sectarian right and nothing to do with the right in France.
And you ? Your political orientation? it would be convenient to know her like the others, wouldn’t it? And it will help to get an idea of your highly subjective sorting. (the place of the other on the political chessboard varies according to his own place) Here is my sorting, from gaucho-ecolo: French daily newspapers: Le Monde: liberal tendency center Le Figaro: liberal right Liberation: center L’Humanité: left French weeklies: L’Express: right Le Point: right Marianne: center Le Canard enchaîné: left, in-depth investigation, not AFP copying (a real duck what) Charlie Hebdo: left French monthly: L’âge de faire: left ecologist The Fakir: labor / trade unionist left
La Razon is more to the right than ABC, I would say more extreme right.
confirm that the express is on the left; just hear christophe barber in C dans l’air; don’t forget also that most French newspapers and weeklies are largely subsidized by the state, which encourages them to be very complacent…
the express on the left? mouahaha, when you know that the majority shareholder – the israeli patrick drahi with 64% – is pro-likoud, that is to say to the israeli extreme right… It’s the same for Libé, on the left in his production, right in its shareholders
Center-right Le Figaro, we will have heard everything… Liberation is on the left and not on the far left as Humanity can be.
Le Figaro is centre-right, otherwise liberation has little to put it on the extreme left.
Hello, I read an article from the Economist entitled you’re welcome AND I would like to have more information on this weekly, in particular the ideologies of the political party it supports and information on the aims of this article, more precisely knowing that I thought I guessed that irony predominated. Thank you Best regards . Sabrina.