France Soir

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FranceSoir
Image:Http://www.francesoir.fr/images/css/LogoFS fr 234x90 def.png
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid

Owner	Jean-Pierre Brunois
Editor	Les Editions du Nouveau FranceSoir
Founded	1944
Political allegiance	Centre
Language	French
Headquarters	PARIS

Website: www.francesoir.fr

France Soir ("France Evening") is a French daily newspaper which was originally founded as the underground paper Défense de la France ("Defense of France") in November 1944 by Pierre Lazareff, and renamed France Soir after World War II. France Soir prospered during the 1950s, and became the top-selling newspaper in France in 1961, with a peak circulation figure in excess of one million.

However, sales dropped steadily thereafter and as of 2005, only about 45,000 copies were being sold per day. Managed by a series of different publishers over the years, the newspaper became more sensationalist in content in an attempt to revive sales. In late 2005, the newspaper's fortunes declined further when it entered bankruptcy proceedings on October 27, and on October 31 the Bobigny commerce court declared a setting in rectification for a six month period.

The millionaire Raymond Lakah currently owns a majority share in the newspaper. In March 2006, Arcadi Gaydamak announced his offer to buy back the newspaper via Moscow News company ^[1].

On April 12th, 2006, it is the project of resumption of the journalist Olivier Rey and the businessman Jean-Pierre Brunois who is chosen by the Commercial court of Lille, provoking in the stride a strike of the journalists of France Soir.

This strike and the call to the memory of Pierre Lazareff were denounced as an operation, qualified as person with suicidal tendencies, by François Lazareff, a nephew of Pierre, journalist and equestrian newspaper editor in the big West of France. He reminded that one of Pierre Lazareff's maxims was " The first quality of a journalist is to be read " and that that the journalists of France Soir made everything not to be him(her).

These comments were the object of the "censorship" of syndicates and were published only by The World one week later, thanks to the pressure made on Internet, then by LCI, with a sequence during the television news.

[edit] Reparution and new formula

On Wednesdays 7 juin 2006, " France Soir " reappears after more than one and a half month of stop of distribution. The headlines of " n°1 of new France Soir ", pulled to 150 000 copies, consisted of Mariah Carey, Guy Roux and of a title at the road safety.