''Paris Match'' () is a

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in No ...

weekly

news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...

. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features.

History and profile

A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on ''

L'Intransigeant ''L'Intransigeant'' was a French newspaper founded in July 1880 by Henri Rochefort. Initially representing the left-wing opposition, it moved towards the right during the Boulanger affair (Rochefort supported Boulanger) and became a major right-wi ...

''), was launched on 9 November 1926 by

Léon Bailby Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

. It was acquired by the Louis-Dreyfus group in 1931 and then by the industrialist

Jean Prouvost Jean Prouvost (24 April 1885, Roubaix – 18 October 1978, Yvoy-le-Marron) was a businessman, media owner and French politician. Prouvost was best known for building and owning the publications that became ''France-Soir'', ''Paris Match'', and '' ...

in 1938. Under Prouvost the magazine expanded its focus beyond sports, to a format reminiscent of ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'': ''Le Match de la vie'' ("The Match of Life") and then ''Match, l'hebdomadaire de l'actualité mondiale'' ("Match, the weekly of world news"). Following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

it became ''Match de la guerre'' ("Match of War") in October 1939. Selling for 2 francs a copy, it reached a circulation of 1.45 million by November. Publication was halted on 6 June 1940, during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

. The magazine was relaunched in 1949 with a new name, ''Paris Match''. The magazine temporarily ceased its publication between 18 May and 15 June 1968 upon the call for a strike by the Syndicat du Livre, the French Printers' Union. In 1976

Daniel Filipacchi Daniel Filipacchi (born 12 January 1928) is the Chairman Emeritus of Hachette Filipacchi Médias and a French collector of surrealist art. Career Filipacchi wrote and worked as a photographer for ''Paris Match'' from its founding in 1949 by ...

purchased the ailing ''Paris Match'', and it continues to be one of France's most successful and influential magazines. It is published weekly and is now part of

Hachette Filipacchi Médias Hachette Filipacchi Médias, S.A. (HFM) is a magazine publisher. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Active, a division of the media conglomerate Lagardère Group of France. History '' Hachette'' was founded by Louis Hachette (Fren ...

, which is itself owned by the Lagardère Group. On occasion, ''Paris Match'' has sold more than one million copies worldwide when covering major events, such as the first flight by a French

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, Patrick Baudry, aboard the U.S.

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

in June 1985.

Benoît Clair Benoit Clair (born 1953) is a French journalist and a published author. Career After studying journalism, sciences politiques and law in University in Paris and Tours (France), Benoit Clair began his career as the French Parliament liaison for R ...

, a senior writer for ''Paris Match'', was the first journalist allowed to join the shuttle crew members from training until the departure for the launch pad at

Cape Canaveral , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type = Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

. A series of reports on the training was published in ''Paris Match'' on 22 April 1985, 17 June 1985 and 20 January 1986. As of 1996 the magazine has adopted an independent political stance.

Circulation

''Paris Match'' had a circulation of 1,800,000 copies in 1958. The 1988 circulation of the magazine was 873,000, making it the best-selling news weekly in the country. In 2001 the weekly was the tenth-largest-circulation news magazine worldwide, with a 630,000 sale. ''Paris Match'' had a circulation of 656,000 during the 2007–2008 period. In 2009 the magazine was the best-selling photonews magazine in France, with a circulation of 611,000 copies. Its circulation was 578,282 in 2014 and 568,115 in 2020.

In popular culture

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

adventure ''

The Castafiore Emerald ''The Castafiore Emerald'' (french: link=no, Les Bijoux de la Castafiore) is the twenty-first volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. It was serialised weekly from July 1961 to September 1962 in ...

'' (1963), reporters from the imaginary "''Paris-Flash''" magazine (a clear spoof on ''Paris Match'', with a similar logo) play a major role in the plot's development. The magazine is satirized as sensationalist and inaccurate.

References

External links

* {{Lagardère 1949 establishments in France French-language magazines Lagardère Active Magazines established in 1949 Magazines published in Paris News magazines published in France Photojournalistic magazines Weekly magazines published in France Weekly news magazines