French Media On-Line
The major French national dailies such as Le Monde and Le Figaro are available, in a summarized electronic version, while Libération offers a comprehensive insight into its daily edition. The English language daily the International Herald Tribune, published in Paris and immortalized by Jean Sieberg in Jean Luc Godard's Breathless, is also available through the Internet. However, you will not be able to read much without a subscription. In any case, why spoil the pleasure? The Herald Tribune is to be read in the tradition of expatriates: at the terrasse of a café on a bustling Parisian morning.In case you are unsure of what the morning looks like, view Paris in real time through the camera of TF1, before reserving the table at your favorite café, or plan ahead by looking up the weather report.
You can read the daily news, in French, not only in the papers, but also thanks to the news service AFP, the television station TF1 and Yahoo. Quotes and news of the stock exchange are also available and regional artistic or sport events enjoy good coverage in the regional daily press.
Magazines are also available. Reputed weeklies such as l'Express, Le Nouvel Observateur and Paris-Match are on-line, and so is the business publication l'Expansion. For a list of cinemas, restaurants, night clubs and special events in the Capital, Pariscope and Métropole Paris both make good reading choices.
The special interest media has established a good presence on the Web. Be they about photography, such as the highly respected Photo, fashion, such as Elle, cinema, music, literature, theater, outdoors or sports, the traveler with a good proficiency of French should find valuable information in these magazines that will assist in the preparation of a successful trip and a better understanding and appreciation of French culture.
And what could be better in the development of language skills than to watch French television such as TV5, available world-wide by cable distribution? Listening to French radio, accessible through the Internet, such as Radio France, Europe2 and RTL2, is a somewhat easier task. But first, the listener will need to have Real Audio installed. With regular listening sessions, the traveler should not only be well aware of what is happening, but will become familiar with spoken French. An indisputable asset for an independent mind.