{{Short description|French weekly celebrity news magazine}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox magazine | title = France Dimanche | image_file = France Dimanche.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = | publisher = Czech Media Invest | category = News magazine | total_circulation = 575,000 | circulation_year = 2007 | frequency = Weekly | language = French | editor = | editor_title = | founded = {{start date and age|1946}} | firstdate = | country = France | based=Paris | website = [http://www.francedimanche.fr Official website] | issn = 0015-9549 }}
'''''France Dimanche''''' (English: France Sunday) is a French weekly celebrity news magazine published by Czech Media Invest with a circulation of about 150.00 copies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.acpm.fr/Support/france-dimanche|title = France Dimanche - ACPM}}</ref> Similar to British tabloids, but with a weekly circulation, it covers celebrity gossip and scandals since 1946.<ref name="Larner2008"/>
==History== ''France Dimanche'' was established in 1946,<ref name="Larner2008">{{cite book|author=Monica Larner|title=Working and Living France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUaWVH_iZe0C&pg=PA75|date=1 February 2008|publisher=New Holland Publishers|isbn=978-1-86011-369-7|page=75}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=John Tebbel|title=Print Media. France|url=http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/DF_media-prt.shtml|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Americana|access-date=1 November 2014|year=2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509082817/http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/DF_media-prt.shtml|archive-date=9 May 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> at the end of World War II with the aim of providing entertainment for the masses. It publishes every Sunday and uses colourful pictures and headlines providing details on the lives of celebrities such as their health, financial status and personal relationships. Its writers work under pseudonyms. General news and literary content are not covered extensively.<ref name="HughesHughes2002"/>
The demographics of its readers mainly include older people and women aged between 35 and 50. Along with ''Ici Paris'', ''France-Soir'' and ''Paris-Match'' it is considered part of the ''presse de sensation'', i.e. the sensationalist media.<ref name="Larner2008"/><ref name="Reisinger2007">{{cite book|author=Deborah Streifford Reisinger|title=Crime and Media in Contemporary France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e23ZrdFFUqYC&pg=PA14|year=2007|publisher=Purdue University Press|isbn=978-1-55753-433-0|page=14}}</ref> It is also considered a part of the ''presse indiscrète'', the French equivalent of the tabloid press.<ref name="Terzis2007"/> François Truffaut was a writer for the magazine who also worked as a photographer for the publication.<ref name="BaecqueToubiana2000">{{cite book|author1=Antoine de Baecque|author2=Serge Toubiana|title=Truffaut|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2H0AiDn4XIC&pg=PA55|year=2000|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22524-4|page=55}}</ref>
In 2010, France Dimanche published an article which it said to be an interview of the deaceased Claude François by a medium.
In 2019, Hachette sold ''France Dimanche'' and other magazines to Czech Media Invest, parent of Czech News Center.<ref>{{Cite web| last1 = Burlet| first1 = Fleur| title = Lagardère Completes Sale of French Elle to Czech Media Invest| work = WWD| access-date = 2020-04-05| date = 2019-02-15| url = https://wwd.com/business-news/media/lagardere-completes-sale-of-french-elle-to-czech-media-invest-1203027440/}}</ref>
==Circulation== In 1949 the circulation of ''France Dimanche'' was 450,000 copies.<ref name="Deseret News"/> Its circulation in the mid-1990s was about 650,000 copies.<ref name="HughesHughes2002">{{cite book|author1=Alexandra Hughes|author2=Alex Hughes|author3=Keith A Reader|title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrhClZg65EsC&pg=PA220|date=11 March 2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-26354-2|page=220}}</ref> In 2001 the magazine had a circulation of 566,000 copies.<ref>{{cite web|title=Top 50 General Interest magazines worldwide (by circulation) |url=http://www.magazine.org.tw/events/school/report/wmt/top50general.pdf |work=Magazine.com |access-date=17 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117215649/http://www.magazine.org.tw/events/school/report/wmt/top50general.pdf |archive-date=17 January 2015 |df=dmy }}</ref> In 2004 the magazines sold 537,011 copies.<ref>{{cite book|author=E. Martin|title=Marketing Identities Through Language: English and Global Imagery in French Advertising|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvqADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|access-date=25 September 2016|date=30 November 2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-0-230-51190-3|page=6}}</ref> Its circulation was 575,000 copies in 2007.<ref name="Terzis2007">{{cite book|editor=Georgios Terzis|title=European Media Governance: National and Regional Dimensions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68nbtqst-CsC&pg=PA215|year=2007|publisher=Intellect Books|isbn=978-1-84150-192-5|page=215}}</ref>
==Star coverage== In 1956 the news magazine carried pictures of Brigitte Bardot embracing affectionately with Roger Vadim under the headline "Et pourtant si! Il divorcent!" (And yet it's true, the divorce is on!). A 1960s article under the headline "La Défaite des mauvaises femmes" (The downfall of the bad women) chronicles the separations of Maria Kallas, Eva Bartok and Brenda Lee from the "men they seduced", as the magazine claimed at the time. Another article of the same decade carries the headline "Sooner or later Love is defeated by Scandal". During that era the magazine enumerated the love affairs of Brigitte Bardot, all the while keeping moralising criticism of the star to a minimum.<ref name="GaffneyHolmes2011">{{cite book|author1=John Gaffney|author2=Diana Holmes|title=Stardom in Postwar France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5gyvHiG5It8C&pg=PA53|date=15 January 2011|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-0-85745-456-0|page=53}}</ref>
==Seizure== In 1949, copies of the news magazine were seized during the weekend in France, prior to their distribution, because they were carrying pictures of Princess Margaret and her entourage, during her vacation at the island of Capri, which were deemed to be an insult.<ref name="Deseret News">{{cite news|title=Princess Photos Declared Insult|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19490509&id=81czAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-U0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5190,2293101|newspaper=Deseret News Associated Press|date=9 May 1949}}</ref><ref name="Morning Herald"/> The seizure of the papers occurred under orders of Police inspector Finault of the Paris prefecture who claimed that the pictures "would have angered the King of a great and friendly country".<ref name="Morning Herald"/><ref name="Cairns Post"/>
One of the pictures in contention showed the back of a nude female sitting on the rocks.<ref name="Deseret News"/><ref name="Morning Herald"/> The news magazine had announced at the time that the identity of the nude female in that picture could not be determined. Another picture showed the princess boarding a boat but the bathing suit could not be discerned.<ref name="Deseret News"/><ref name="Morning Herald"/>
The seizure was made under a law covering "insults to the head of a foreign state".<ref name="Deseret News"/><ref name="Morning Herald"/> The paper issued a statement protesting "such an attack on the Liberty of the Press.<ref name="Cairns Post">{{cite news|title=Pictures of Princess in Bathers Paris newspaper seized|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article42624440|newspaper=Cairns Post A.A.P.|date=10 May 1949}}</ref> Max Corre, general manager of ''France Dimanche'' at the time, had stated that the seizure was illegal and that he was preparing legal action. Corre also said that the pictures had also been published in Italy and that a modified edition of ''France Dimanche'' would be available on Tuesday.<ref name="Deseret News"/>
The French Ministry of External Affairs had said at the time that it ordered the police to seize the papers at the request of the British Embassy.<ref name="Morning Herald"/> In turn, a spokesman of the British Embassy denied that the prefect of police had acted pursuant to a complaint launched by then British ambassador to France Sir Oliver Harvey.<ref name="Deseret News"/><ref name="Morning Herald">{{cite news|title=Paris Stir Over Princess|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27578606|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald A.A.P.|date=9 May 1949}}</ref>
The French press union issued a statement condemning the "publication in a weekly newspaper of photographs claiming to represent a distinguished personality belonging to the family of the chief of state of a friendly nation". The union did not specify ''France Dimanche'' by name so it was nor clear if the statement referred to it or ''Samedi Soir'' which had also published the pictures at the time.<ref name="The Daily News Perth">{{cite news|title= Princess Pictures Annoy Press Union|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82911419|newspaper=Daily News (Perth, Western Australia) A.A.P.|date=17 May 1949}}</ref>
The newspaper ''Ce Matin'' called the photographer "irresponsible" and commented that the pictures would cause a scandal in Britain, "not because they showed the splendid figure of the young princess, but because T. C. Harvey, the Queen's private secretary, was wearing a hat while leading the Princess", an action which the newspaper called "a little off-hand".<ref name="Morning Herald"/>
==Lawsuits== The paper was sued in 1955 by Marlene Dietrich for publishing personal details about her.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}}
In 1965, Gérard Philipe sued the magazine for publishing an article about his son's illness.<ref name="Krieken2012">{{cite book|author=Robert van Krieken|title=Celebrity Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9HFR7d6YC8C&pg=PA78|date=14 June 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-29855-4|page=78}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== * [http://www.francedimanche.fr/ Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103230153/http://www.francedimanche.fr/ |date=3 January 2015 }}
Category:Celebrity magazines published in the United States Category:French-language magazines Category:News magazines published in France Category:Weekly magazines published in France Category:Lagardère Active Category:Magazines established in 1946 Category:1946 establishments in France Category:Magazines published in Paris Category:Sunday newspapers