| Newspaper Name: |
La Dépêche du Midi |
| Name on english: |
The South Bulletin |
| Alternative Names: |
La Dépêche |
| Owner: |
Groupe La Dépêche du Midi |
| Country / Region: |
France (Toulouse) |
| Language: |
French |
| Format type: |
Newspaper |
| Category: |
General |
| Political alignment: |
Left |
| Frequency: |
Daily |
| Publication Years (print version): |
1870 — now (153 years) |
| Circulation: |
140 000 (2015) |
| Website: |
ladepeche.fr [read with translation] |
|
«La Dépêche du Midi», is the central newspaper of the southwestern French region of Toulouse. The most commonly used shortened version of its name is «La Dépêche». It is published with 17 local versions for various regions of the French region of the South-Pyrenees (now part of the Occitania region). The main ones are as follows: Toulouse, Ariège, Aude, Aveyron, Haute-Garonne, Haute-Pyrenees, Gers, Lot, Tarn.
For the first time, a bulletin with the name «La Dépêche de Toulouse» (Toulouse Dispatch) appeared in this region on October 2, 1870. The publication was founded on the initiative of employees of the printing house of Joseph Sirven (future mayor of Toulouse) like a military dispatch with the latest news for women's battalions. After the war, the publication lost its relevance, but did not disappear, but continued to be published as a regional newspaper. In just 9 years, its circulation was 15 thousand copies. In 1879, the newspaper was transferred to the Paris publishing group Le Pelletier. In 1881, for the first time, attempts were made to launch a separate publication for each department of the Toulouse region. The newspaper's greatest success came in the period between the two wars, with its circulation growing at an extraordinary rate.
During World War II, the newspaper was under the control of the German occupiers and was closed in 1944. In 1947, it was relaunched under the modern name «La Dépêche du Midi». In the post-war period, its obvious anti-communist and left-wing direction in politics was gradually formed. She supported the cabinet of Pierre Mendes France, who opposed the 1958 constitutional referendum, and supported Francois Mitterrand in the 1965 presidential election.
