Market Structure and Innovation Policies in France

Abstract

The news media industry in France has a long tradition. France was one of pioneers of the modern daily press in Europe. At that time, the news media industry was very innovative. Nowadays, the news media industry is not very innovative anymore, despite a well-developed supporting system in France. This chapter shows that the traditional news media industry is highly institutionalized in France. The industry is change-resistant and almost reluctant to innovation. The French State and public bodies play a substantial role in the news media industry as regulators, supervisors, and active actors. Although successive governments and news media leaders have claimed a reduction of concentration and maintenance of the conditions for competitive news media markets, the evidence shows an enduring trend towards concentration in the different traditional news media markets in the last few decades. A recent development is that powerful media tycoons are controlling more and more news media companies and outlets. This chapter shows that regarding the strong institutionalization and the entrance of media tycoons it is a challenge to set up the conditions for an innovation policy.