RSF report on local media in France, Digi Mart USA News: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) used the municipal election campaign to publish a full report on local news in France. The document, titled “France: local news on the front line,” was posted on the RSF website on March 11, 2026.
The organization reviews the economic, legal and security vulnerabilities of local newspapers, radio stations, television channels and websites. According to a Verian-La Croix-La Poste barometer cited in the report, these outlets retain the trust of 63% of French people.
RSF notes that fifteen years ago, France was covered by journalists roughly every ten kilometers. That coverage has thinned: departmental newspapers have lost 20% of their journalists, and regional daily newspapers have lost 9%.
In 2025, Brittany had 43 journalists per 100,000 inhabitants, while the former region of Poitou-Charentes had only 25. In terms of distribution, more than 6,400 points of sale closed between 2015 and 2025, representing a quarter of the network.
A second finding of the report concerns concentration. Nine groups control 47 of the 51 regional daily newspapers, and the number of departments with genuine pluralism fell from 34 to 17 between 2009 and 2019.
RSF illustrates these disappearances with two examples. The Vendée satirical monthly Le Sans-Culotte 85 stopped in June 2024 after seventeen years of publication, and the Hauts-de-France local television channel Wéo ceased operations in January 2026.
Small structures, which rely on subscriptions or donations, are the most exposed to legal action. According to the report, the investigative site Mediacités has been sued 22 times.
The text also cites death threats made in 2024 against a journalist at La Dépêche du Midi. In Brittany, the vehicle of a journalist investigating agro-industry was sabotaged twice in 2023.
One further threat takes the form of local-looking media. According to Public Sénat, 85 disinformation sites reportedly produced 23,000 articles in twelve months using artificial intelligence, relaying narratives favorable to the Kremlin.
Regulation of news content also concerns Arcom, which has just referred remarks broadcast on three news channels to the public prosecutor.
The report concludes with 12 recommendations addressed to the state and publishers. RSF calls for investigative hubs and targeted financial support for local and regional media, modeled on the Danish media agreement of 2022–2025.
The organization cites projects launched by regional press itself as examples, such as Vozer, created by La Voix du Nord in 2017, and Novo 19 at Ouest-France.
The full report is freely downloadable from the RSF website. Follow-up work falls to RSF’s France bureau, led by Laure Chauvel.
