2023-06-30 17:53:00
The strike at the Journal du Dimanche is not weakening: the editorial staff of the weekly voted almost unanimously to continue the movement, which is entering its second week to denounce the arrival at its head of the far-right journalist Geoffroy Lejeune .
In total, 96% of voters expressed themselves in favor of the continuation of the strike (89 for, four against, three who did not decide), details the Society of Journalists (SDJ) on Friday in a press release, specifying that a new vote will be held Saturday morning on the renewal or not of the movement.
As a result, the JDD, which had not appeared the previous week, will again be absent from newsstands on Sunday, a member of the SDJ told AFP.
This is the second strike resulting in the non-publication of the newspaper, after that of 2016, and already the longest movement known to the editorial staff, according to former members of the newspaper.
The editorial staff of the JDD asks the management of Lagardère News, owner of the weekly, to “renounce the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune” and to “offer the editorial staff guarantees of legal and editorial independence”.
These two demands do not seem close to succeeding: the management of the newspaper announced the arrival on Wednesday of Geoffroy Lejeune at the editorial office to present his “editorial project”, learned AFP from an internal source at the JDD.
However, the strikers had the ear of Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak, who received a delegation of journalists on Friday at their request, the SDJ said on Twitter.
“We asked the minister to bring about a change in the legislation in order to ensure the real independence of the editorial staff and to protect the exercise of the profession of journalist in compliance with the rules of ethics”, detailed the body.
“Binding ethical charter, right of veto on the choice of the editorial director, protective status for the representatives of journalists’ societies”, the delegation claims to have also “advocated for the launch, as soon as possible, of the general assembly of the right to information+”.
“Urgent for the JDD, these measures are more necessary than ever, both in the audiovisual and for the written press”.
“In a context of distrust vis-à-vis the media, it is a question of protecting the right of citizens to pluralistic, honest and reliable information”, concludes the editorial staff of the newspaper.
Arnaud Lagardère assumes
Many observers see in the arrival of Mr. Lejeune at the head of the newspaper, closely followed by political and economic circles, the hand of the billionaire Vincent Bolloré, with opinions reputed to be ultra-conservative.
The latter steers the Vivendi group, the media behemoth in France, which notably includes the Canal+ group and its channels C8 and CNews, as well as Prisma media, the leading magazine press group, and the publishing group Editis.
The appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune came just after the green light given under conditions by the European Commission to Vivendi to absorb Lagardère, a group to which Paris Match, Europe 1 and the publishing leader, Hachette also belong.
“I made this decision alone. Neither Vincent Bolloré, nor anyone from Vivendi, was involved,” denied Arnaud Lagardère, leader of the group of the same name, Tuesday in the newspaper Le Figaro.
According to press reports, journalist Charlotte d’Ornellas, also marked on the far right and coming from Valeurs Actuelles, should join Geoffroy Lejeune at the head of the JDD.
Since these announcements, several calls for support from the JDD editorial staff have been organised, in particular a rally, under the aegis of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which brought together nearly a thousand people on Tuesday.
A strike fund was opened to support the movement financially. More than 11,500 euros had been collected Thursday evening, according to the Twitter account of the SDJ of the JDD.
A petition has also been launched on the change.org website. On Friday, it had more than 33,000 signatures.
30/06/2023 17:52:21 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
#strike #renewed #hours #newspaper #absent #newsstands #Sunday