Siné Monthly will it be on newsstands at the start of the school year? On the front page of 141e issue, which will be on sale from Wednesday June 5, the satirical and impertinent title displays its support for legislating around assisted dying “with dignity”, but does not want to disappear. “Money, money, wheat, money, money: we need you to continue”alert, faithful to his usual freedom of tone on the front page of the newspaper.
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Founded by the designer Siné, in 2008, after his dismissal from Charlie Hebdo, Siné Hebdo became Siné Monthly three years later. Since his death in 2016, the title has been managed by his widow, Catherine Weil Sinet. “For the moment, I am alive and well, but the newspaper is in the red, even scarlet », writes the 82-year-old director in her editorial. “We are naked, we have no more sorrel. Without your donations to continue, we will barely make it through the summer. »
This is far from the first time that Siné Monthly appeals to its readers to save it from the financial abyss. On five occasions – in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2022 – the newspaper had already gone through crises and asked its supporters for help.
“ Siné Monthly lives only from its sales and its donations, we have no advertising »explains Catherine Weil Sinet, who claims 10,000 issues, sold for 6.50 euros, each month, of which “more than two thirds on newsstands”. The latter estimates that it would be necessary to reach 13,000 monthly sales for the newspaper of five employees and 60 collaborators (including the comedians Isabelle Alonso, Christophe Alévêque, François Morel, Guillaume Meurice as well as the forty or so cartoonists) to achieve balance. .
” A threatened species “
If the pagination has been reduced from 32 to 24 pages since March, to save money, the title has suffered a deficit of 18,000 euros each month since November 2023, according to its boss. Inflation in production costs (with the increase in the price of paper, energy, rent, etc.) and distribution (routing) are particularly burdening the accounts. A technical problem affected the website and caused the loss of at least 800 subscribers. “We still have enough to do the summer issue in July and the back-to-school issue, but no more”assures Mme Weil Sinet, hoping to reunite “as much as in previous calls for donations, i.e. 180,000 to 220,000 euros”.
What if it didn’t work? “This would be a bad signal for the independence of the written press. We are almost becoming an endangered species. Freedom of expression must be defended tooth and nail”defends Mme Weil Sinet, convinced that “the drawing must be a punch that must make you think while making you laugh”.
