President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday unveiled a mini-stimulus package worth €600m to help “save” the French newspaper industry from a plunge in advertising revenues, high production costs and the effects of its difficulty in adapting to the internet age.

The measures costing €200m ($260m, £188m) a year over three years include doubling the amount of government advertising in newspapers, reduced social charges for newspaper delivery workers, a postponement of a planned increase in postage costs, and more generous tax breaks for investment in digital services.