Luxemburg: Subsidies for print and online media

Declining circulations, dwindling advertising revenues and ineffective online business models pose a threat to Luxembourg’s pluralistic media landscape. Its comparatively high level of diversity has only been maintained thanks to state assistance for publishing companies.

Europe's largest private television and radio company, the RTL Group (© picture-alliance/dpa)

The two major publishing groups Saint-Paul and Editpress have been competing with each other for decades for dominance of the Luxembourgian market. The rivalry between Saint-Paul, which is closely affiliated with the Christian Democrats, and Editpress, which has close ties to the Socialists, became even more fierce in 2007, when both groups began publishing free newspapers that quickly gained popularity. The French-language free newspaper L'essentiel published by Editpress has more than 200,000 readers in Luxembourg and the bordering regions, and its online news site gets the highest number of clicks in the country.

Tough competition from free newspapers

Since the introduction of free newspapers most fee-based dailies have seen their reader figures decline. The Tageblatt (published by Editpress) and the liberal Lëtzebuerger Journal are among those affected. The latter’s print version was discontinued as a result, and since 2021 it has only been available as an online magazine. La Voix du Luxembourg, the French-language pendant to the prestigious Luxemburger Wort, was forced to shut down in 2011. In 2019 the weekly Le Jeudi was also discontinued.

Yet Luxembourg still has a relatively high number of newspapers, thanks mainly to a system of state aid that has developed over time. Magazines and newspapers are subsidised to the tune of around ten million euros a year through special funding known as “press aid”. The lion's share goes to the three market leaders Tageblatt, Luxemburger Wort and Le Quotidien. In 2017 online media also began to receive state funding.

Multilingualism at newsstands

Portuguese-language magazines (Contacto, Correio) and English-language magazines (Delano) continue to feature prominently in Luxembourg's media landscape. Foreigners account for more than 40 percent of the country’s population and multilingualism is a defining characteristic of Luxembourg society. The country has three official languages: German, French and Luxembourgish. Most newspapers, however, appear only in German or French; Luxembourgish is seldom used as a written language, but is widely used in radio programmes.

Luxembourg is home to Europe’s largest private television and radio company, the RTL Group. In Luxembourg, RTL operates TV channel RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg. It monopolised this segment until 1991. The only French-language radio station, l'Essentiel, went on air in 2016 as an offshoot of the free newspaper of the same name.

Luxembourg is generally considered to have a high level of press freedom. Nevertheless, the country’s press council has complained of repeated attempts to encroach on this freedom. The frequency of physical attacks and threats against journalists has risen. After years of wrangling, access to information held by state authorities was eased in 2022 by a decree issued by the head of government. However, the journalists' association ALJP (Association luxembourgeoise des journalistes professionnels) insists that the right to information must be enshrined in law.

World Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders):
Rank 21 (2022)

Last updated: February 2023

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Media from Luxembourg at euro|topics

Le Jeudi (Weekly newspaper)

Le Quotidien (Daily newspaper)

Lëtzebuerger Journal (Daily newspaper)

Luxemburger Wort (Daily newspaper)

Tageblatt (Daily newspaper)

Woxx (Weekly newspaper)