World's Matinal broadcasts its decade-long journey: a peek into the creation process of an episode
It's 7 a.m., and your phone screen awakens with Le Monde's Matinale logo, heralding the day's edition. Swipe confidently, keep, or skim – just like on Tinder! Ten years ago, on May 11, 2015, this addictive morning ritual debuted with the first Matinale edition. With 3,571 published editions (as of May 11, 2025) and two million visits per month, it's become a vital habit.
Matinale offers a daily selection of twenty articles, a condensed newspaper-style format available alongside Le Monde's real-time news coverage. Readers receive the essential news of the night, Le Monde's main decryption, reports, and analyses, plus lighter "side dishes" to momentarily escape. Over ten years, over 75,000 articles have been thoughtfully selected in this unique blend.
The process begins twenty-four hours earlier, as a team of about ten journalists, divided between the Paris newsroom and Le Monde's Los Angeles bureau, work diligently.
As dawn breaks, a Paris journalist starts preparing the next day's Matinale edition. Some articles have completed their editorial circuit – these are the pieces handpicked for the Matinale. The team then tailors unique headlines, often shorter due to the format's smartphone screen size constraints.
Matinale produces several featured formats, including:
- Letters from, offering insightful glimpses into foreign societies or territories covered by Le Monde's correspondents, Monday to Friday.
- La Matinale's list, a daily appointment that concludes the edition by offering advice and recommendations on various topics, including films, books, music, documentaries, podcasts, exhibitions, and more.
- Sex according to Maïa Mazaurette, a monthly column that discusses our representations of the body, sexual practices, and erotic imaginaries.
At midday, a daily editorial conference assembles representatives of each Le Monde service around the editorial director, discussing main news topics, articles, videos, and live events to be published within the next twenty-four hours. Matinale then sets its editorial production direction.
In the afternoon, the selection is refined, evolving with developing news and specific issues impacting certain stories and relegating others due to hotter news items.
The day's Matinale features a balance of hot news articles, investigations and decryption, reports, interactive long-form pieces, opinion articles, and lighter articles on culture, travel, gastronomy, intimacy, and more. The team aims to dedicate approximately one-third of each edition to these lighter topics, offering a mix of seriousness and escapism, although this objective can sometimes be challenging.
Late-afternoon "service rounds" allow the Matinale team preparing the next day's edition and the on-duty chief editor to review launched articles and their planned delivery.
In the evening, selecting articles for the following day’s Matinale becomes the team's main challenge – choosing among hundreds of pieces produced by the editorial team. Often, articles that impose themselves do so due to their subject or format, but there is usually a 'gray area,' where the team's subjective judgment comes into play. To avoid selection fatigue or flooding the first part with all serious news, articles are purposefully placed in the order to provide variety and balance.
From 11 pm, the Los Angeles team takes over, receiving the latest hot news articles from editors and reporters in the evening or during the night, editing them, and completing Matinale. Los Angeles journalists are responsible for crafting the opening subject, iconography, and article order that readers will encounter.
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Notable Matinale Dates
- May 11, 2015: Launch and first edition, debuting exclusively in Paris
- November 21, 2015: The edition, initially published Monday to Friday, expanded to daily publication
- June 7, 2016: The first Matinale edition was closed in Los Angeles, with Paris continuing to close several per week
- September 17, 2021: All Matinale closings are now done in Los Angeles
- October 12, 2022: Launch of the audio reading of articles
Matinale Team
In Paris:
- Alexandre Pouchard (Editor-in-chief)
- Matthias Blamont
- Marline Duretz
- Philippe Romain
- Iconography: Claire Gilly
In Los Angeles:
- Laurent Borredon (Editor-in-chief)
- Agnes Gautheron (Deputy Editor-in-chief)
- Anne Hazard
- Samuel Morin
- Patrice Jouetre
- Chrystele Pape
- Violette Robinet
- Iconography: Glenn Cloarec, Aude Guerrucci, Etienne Laurent, Olivier Touron
Alexandre Pouchard (Editor-in-chief of Matinale)
- The Matinale team in Paris, led by Editor-in-chief Alexandre Pouchard, begins preparing the wind of news for the next day's edition around dawn.
- With over 3,571 editions published, Le Monde's Matinale has become a crucial part of many readers' morning lifestyle, offering a three-times-a-week selection of articles on home-and-garden, technology, and lighter topics.
- Overnight, the Los Angeles team takes over, editing the latest hot news articles and finalizing the Matinale for an evening release, ensuring readers worldwide stay informed on global affairs.
- As technology evolves, readers can choose to read Matinale's condensed newspaper-style format via the app, available on the AppStore for iOS and Google Play for Android.
