''Sud Ouest'' ( French for "South West") is a daily French newspaper, the third largest regional daily in France in terms of circulation.Groupe Sud Ouest
Ecole Supérieure de journalisme de Lille It was created in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, on August 29, 1944, by Jacques Lemoine, as a successor to ''La Petite Gironde''. In 1949, the Sunday edition, ''Sud Ouest Dimanche'' was launched. ''Sud Ouest'' covers the Gironde, the Charente, the

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kil ...

, the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is name ...

, the

Pyrénées Atlantiques The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

and the Lot et Garonne départements. It is owned by the Groupe Sud Ouest, which was directed by Jacques Lemoine from 1944 to 1968, and by his son Jean-François Lemoine from 1968 to 2001. The president of the group since February 2008 has been Pierre Jeantet. 80% of the group belongs to the Lemoine family, 10% to the journalists, and the remaining 10% to the staff.

The Sud Ouest group

Besides ''Sud Ouest'', the group has progressively broadened and now also owns ''La Charente Libre'', ''La Dordogne Libre'', ''La République des Pyrénées'' and ''L’Eclair des Pyrénées-Pays de l’Adour''. In 2007, the Groupe Sud Ouest bought ''Le Midi Libre'', ''L’Indépendant'', ''Centre Presse (Aveyron)'' and ''Montpellier Plus'' from the group

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

, which was forced to sell these titles because of its crushing debt. These local papers of the

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and b ...

region, allow Groupe Sud Ouest to extend outside the

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

and

Poitou-Charentes Poitou-Charentes (; oc, Peitau-Charantas; Poitevin-Saintongese: ) is a former administrative region on the southwest coast of France. It is part of the new region Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprises four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, D ...

regions. Besides the dailies, the Groupe Sud Ouest also owns the weekly magazines ''Le Résistant'' (

Libourne Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Ém ...

), ''Haute Saintonge'' (

Jonzac Jonzac (; french: label=Poitevin-Saintongese, Jhonzat) is a commune of the Charente-Maritime department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. The historian Jean Glénisson (1921–2010) was born in Jonzac as well as the philosopher Jean ...

), ''Haute Gironde'' (

Blaye Blaye (; oc, Blaia ) is a commune and subprefecture in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. For centuries, Blaye was a particularly convenient crossing point for those who came from the north and went to Bordea ...

), ''l’Hebdo de Charente Maritime'' (

Surgères Surgères () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, southwestern France. It is the home of the Surgères 48 Hour Race. History Middle ages The site of Surgères was occupied in Neolithic times, but the earliest recorded history co ...

), ''La Semaine du Pays Basque'', ''La Dépêche du Bassin'' and ''Le Journal du Médoc''. The weeklies ''La Semaine du Roussillon'', ''le Journal de Millau'', ''l’Aveyronnais'', ''le Catalan Judiciaire'', ''Terre de Vins'' and ''Terres Catalanes'', all published in

, were also sold by Le Monde to Groupe Sud Ouest in 2007. Groupe Sud Ouest publishes various surf magazines, including ''Surf Session', ''Bodyboard'' and ''Surfer's Journal''. A publishing house, ''éditions Sud Ouest'', specializes in local history, tourism and food and owns the local TV station, TV7 Bordeaux. The revenue of the group was 325 million euros in 2006,"Qui Possède quoi ?"
''

Le Nouvel Observateur (), previously known as (1964–2014), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation. Its current editor is Cécil ...

'', December 26, 2007 and after the absorption of the Languedoc-Roussillon papers, it expected a 555 million Euro revenue."Pierre Jeantet retrouve la direction du Groupe Sud Ouest"
'' Libération'', February 7, 2008

The newspaper

The newspaper ''Sud Ouest'' distinguishes itself by a coverage more thorough than usual for a French local daily of the national and international news. Politically, the paper is rather neutral although it has once compared

Bruno Mégret Bruno Mégret (; born 4 April 1949) is a French former nationalist politician. He was the leader of the Mouvement National Républicain political party, but retired in 2008 from all political action. Youth and studies Born in Paris, Bruno Mégre ...

with

Philippe Henriot Philippe Henriot (7 January 1889 – 28 June 1944) was a French poet, journalist, politician, and minister in the French government at Vichy, where he directed propaganda broadcasts. He also joined the Milice part-time. Career Philippe Henriot, ...

after a meeting of the

Front National The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: ...

in Bordeaux in the 1990s. It features an editorial cartoonist, Michel Iturria, and a regular opinion column signed by Franck de Bondt.

Circulation

The paper circulation is around 300,000 copies.

Sources

External links

Sud Ouest newspaper

The Sud Ouest group
{{Authority control Publications established in 1944 Daily newspapers published in France Mass media in Bordeaux