New Caledonia: the paper version of the newspaper "Les Nouvelles calédoniennes" will disappear

Nouméa, 2018. AP - Theo Rouby

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In New Caledonia, it's the end of the paper newspaper... The only daily newspaper on the island,

, will only be accessible in digital version from January 1, 2023, 

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A paper journal to start the day has almost become a luxury.

The only New Caledonian newspaper in turn throws in the towel.

The New Caledonians

, founded in 1971 and bought in 1987 by the former press boss, Robert Hersant, have been experiencing financial difficulties for at least ten years.

The fault, according to the director of the Melchior group (trio of local shareholders in the Hersant group) with a doubling of the price of paper and the fall in advertising revenues. 

►

: The French press sector in crisis

The Ministry of Finance has given a helping hand to find new investors in metropolitan France or in the region, but the search has been in vain.

In April 2021,

was placed in the safeguard procedure... The fault, according to the director of the Melchior group, of a doubling of the price of paper (from 500 euros per tonne to more than 800 euros in mainland France, generating additional costs and supply difficulties for publishers), and the drop in advertising revenue...

The newspaper will remain available in a digital version, and promises to diversify by offering a weekly magazine for subscribers.

but this new strategy, of which the editorial staff was informed last week, will lead to the closure of one of the two printing works of the Melchior group, which also has a radio, a free title, magazines and which employs around 145 people.

According to the Nouvelle-Calédonie la 1ère channel, only five of the 22 employees of the rotary will be reclassified.

A disappearance of the physical newspaper which is far from being an exception.

The paper newspaper is gradually disappearing all over the world,

. 

(with agencies)

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