Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper with a circulation in 2002 of 389,200. It is considered the French newspaper of record, and is generally respected.

Le Monde was founded by Hubert Beuve-Méry at the request of General Charles de Gaulle after the German army was driven from Paris during World War II. Beuve-Méry reportedly demanded total editorial independence as the condition for his taking on the project. Its first edition appeared on November 19, 1944. Le Monde has been available on the Internet since December 19, 1995. The paper's title is French for "The World". Its current board chairman and director of publication is Jean-Marie Colombani and the current chief editor (rédacteur en chef) is Gérard Courtois . It is the principal publication of Groupe Le Monde .

Le Monde was in the past often described as center-left , but its editorial line may be more appropriately described nowadays as simply moderate. Some critics contend that its current line is, broadly speaking, biased against Jacques Chirac.

Le Monde, the newspaper, should not be confused with the monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique, of which Le Monde has 51% ownership.

Despite its reputation for quality reporting, a 2003 book entitled La face cachée du Monde ("The hidden face of Le Monde"), authors Pierre Péan and Philippe Cohen alleged that Colombani and Plenel had, amongst other things, shown partisan bias and engaged in financial dealings that compromised the paper's independence. These findings remain controversial.

Recently the paper, like many other French newspapers, has faced declining readership and there is considerable doubt as to its future.

Past Directors

• Hubert Beuve-Méry (1944-1969)
• Jacques Fauvet (1969-1982)
• André Laurens (1982-1985)
• André Fontaine (1985-1991)
• Jacques Lesourne (1991-1994)

See also

• List of French newspapers
• Le Figaro
• Libération

External link

• Le Monde website