Le Figaro is one of the leading French morning daily newspapers. Its editorial line is conservative and has generally been supportive of the Rally for the Republic (RPR) political party and its successor, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). Its circulation was 342,445 in 2005 (365,682 in 2002).
The Parisian paper was founded as a satirical weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto from Le Mariage de Figaro, a play by Pierre-Augustin Caron de ...
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Le Figaro is one of the leading French morning daily newspapers. Its editorial line is conservative and has generally been supportive of the Rally for the Republic (RPR) political party and its successor, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). Its circulation was 342,445 in 2005 (365,682 in 2002).
The Parisian paper was founded as a satirical weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto from Le Mariage de Figaro, a play by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. (The motto, "Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est point d'éloge flatteur" translates as "Without the freedom to criticise, there is no true praise".) It was published somewhat irregularly until 1854, when it was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant. By 1866 it had gained the greatest circulation of any newspaper in France; its first daily edition, that of 16 November 1866 sold 56,000 copies. Albert Wolff, Émile Zola, Alphonse Karr and Jules Claretie were among the paper's early contributors.
On March 16, 1914, Gaston Calmette,...
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