Financial News

Bakchich, a French satirical website, is making a mockery of the newspaper industry's dash for digital.

Buoyed by strong French demand for parody in print, the online journal has taken the unusual step of launching a paper edition.

As troubled US titles shift to online-only formats and media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch predict the demise of newsprint, Bakchich, which takes its name from the Arabic for bribe, has staked its future on ink and dead trees.

With the launch of Bakchich Hebdo (meaning 'Weekly'), French readers can choose from four satirical weeklies. The other three together sold about 630,000 copies a week in 2008, according to unaudited figures, up 13 per cent.

Nicolas Beau, editor of the Bakchich website, said the print edition would bring a "qualitative leap" in terms of writing and editing because content would have to be shoe-horned into 20 pages. A place on France's admittedly crowded news stands would give the publication more prestige and visibility while bringing in new readers, he added.

But the main reason for the paper launch was financial. Bakchich, like the other online news sites that have sprouted in France in recent years, has not yet found an economic model that can turn a profit. "With the collapse of advertising, we couldn't make things add up," Mr Beau said.

He hopes that with a circulation of 25,000 to 30,000, revenue from paper sales can support his small team of writers and editors. The success of Siné Hebdo, set up by cartoonist Siné last year, suggests the market can support a fourth publication, he added, as it now sells 50,000 copies a week.

Bakchich's paper venture is an expression of confidence in French demand for satire. In economic terms, the segment is small and the titles independently owned. But in cultural terms, satire is big.

France has a long tradition of lampooning its leaders in print, partly a reflection of its mainstream media, which is more deferential than its Anglo-Saxon equivalents. The venerable Canard Enchaîné, by far the most read of the genre, was set up in 1915 and has exposed its share of scandals as well as mocking presidents. It has a weekly circulation of 500,000.

Patrick Eveno, a lecturer in media at the Sorbonne in Paris, says satire is in tune with the times. In France's centralised political system, it is hard for the media to hold Nicolas Sarkozy, the president, to account.

"Only the court jester can criticise an all-powerful monarch," Mr Eveno said.