Paris (AFP)
Mon Quotidien, pioneer of daily newspapers for children in France, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this weekend, with a special issue in which it reveals the backstage of its production to its young readers.
The newspaper, intended for 10-13 year-olds, was launched on January 5, 1995 by the publisher Playbac, which had already developed the educational game "Les incollables" and was looking for a new way to develop reading among the youngest.
As told by the co-founder of Mon Quotidien François Dufour in the anniversary issue, published this Saturday, the idea of making a daily life came from tests carried out with children. Playbac wanted to design a newspaper that would offer them "10 minutes of reading each day", and stick to the news, because, like adults, it makes them want to learn.
The newspaper remained faithful to these starting principles, even if it modified its formula several times, in particular by increasing the place dedicated to infographics, and by calling on personalities to play the editors for the time of an issue , including former President François Hollande, judoka Teddy Riner, astronaut Thomas Pesquet or actor Omar Sy.
Among his projects, My Daily is preparing the launch of a page in English which should be published very soon, every Saturday, in the English-language daily International New York Times (ex-Herald Tribune).
Born in the blossoming of the internet, the children's newspaper sold only by subscription (and which is used in many schools) has managed to develop against the flow of a written press which has seen its paper circulation collapse , and its success prompted Playbac to launch in 1998 a "little brother" of My daily newspaper, The little daily newspaper (for 6-10 year olds), and a "big brother", The News (for 13 year olds and over) .
Paid circulation of My Daily, which has however declined in recent years, amounted to around 30,000 copies on average in 2018/2019, according to data from the Alliance for Press and Media Figures (ACPM).
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