PARIS, 13 November 2004 — Raymond Lakah, the Egyptian-born French newspaper publisher who recently acquired control of one of France’s best-known national daily newspapers, France Soir, announced in Paris that the first issue of the new international English-language publication France Soir International will appear Dec. 15.
The new title is expected to cut into French sales of the International Herald Tribune, which, in the eyes of some of its longtime French readers, has lost the French flavor and Francophile predilections of the publication so long associated with humorist Art Buchwald.
The IHT was initially owned jointly by The New York Times and Washington Post. The Post sold off its 50 percent share of the IHT last year. The Post owns Newsweek magazine, whose all-French edition Lakah successfully launched last winter through the same company, Lafayette Press, that is handling the publication of France Soir International.
Lakah will also publish on Dec. 15 the first issue of the revived French-language national daily France Soir, the afternoon title that fifty years ago boasted a press run that could reach several million copies, and could make or break governments.
France Soir International will be aimed at France’s 3.5 million foreign, and largely Anglophone, residents.
“It’s evident,” he told an interviewer, “why we want to internationalize this title which already is well-known abroad. France being the world’s most important tourist destination, with 76 million foreign visitors last year, it’s natural that we would want to bring out an edition that would be aimed at this important foreign population,” said Lakah.
France Soir International will see an initial print run of 60,000 that will be distributed not only on newsstands in the French capital, but also through the country’s 14,000 hotels, at a cover price of Euros 1.50 ($1.95).
The newspaper will be headed by Andre Bercoff, currently editor-in-chief of the French-language version of France Soir, and Thomas Sancton, who is expected to be named the publication’s counselor on English-language media.