To denounce the non-respect of the environment and human rights, “the Daily of Reunion and the Indian Ocean” will not cover the next Football World Cup.
“Without us.” On the front page, this Tuesday, September 13, the Daily newspaper of Reunion and the Indian Ocean informs its readers that it will not be covering the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. “From today, there will no longer be any article or advertisement in these columns and on our site evoking the sporting aspect of the 2022 World Cup”, warns Flavien Rosso, the head of the sports department. The reasons for this boycott, unprecedented for a media? “This cup crystallizes intolerable attacks on human dignity and freedoms, it has trampled on the rights of workers and minorities and swept away respect for the environment”, denounces the regional daily.
“Return to values and fundamentals”
But why this sudden awareness, after covering the Beijing Winter Olympics last February? The Olympics took place in China, where the Uyghur minority and political opponents are repressed by the authorities… Vincent Vibert, the new director of the newspaper, evokes the will “to raise awareness” et “a need to return to the values and fundamentals of the newspaper”. It was time: the image of the Daily had been dented in 2019 and 2020 by multiple cases of censorship by management. Articles relating to retail chains or the former president of the regional council had been redacted, or even deleted, on the grounds of a “economically worrying time”. In short, the newspaper was afraid of displeasing the advertisers. Today, “opening the debate is more important than losing a few euros”, assures Vincent Vibert. or lose “a few passionate football readers”… However, the newspaper has just come out of receivership, has parted ways with 25 employees (there are less than 40 journalists left) and must respect a strict debt clearance plan. Carole Chane-Ki-Chune, the owner of the daily and director of the publication, confirms: “We fight every day for our survival.” The Daily sells 13,000 copies a day, compared to 35,000 twenty-five years ago.
It’s not up to the press to set itself up as a “director of conscience”
For Edouard Marchal, this “ethical concern”, that he says to share, will not be easy to assume. The journalist, delegate of the SNJ, wonders: “Future Island Games [les JO de l’océan Indien, ndlr] take place in Madagascar, a country of extreme poverty and corruption. Are we going to boycott them on the pretext that the regime is going to build stadiums when there is no road or electricity for the population? And to recall the Berlin Olympics, under the Nazi regime, which had seen the black American athlete Jesse Owens triumph. Should the journalists have silenced the event? And if France wins the Qatar World Cup, may tens of thousands of Reunionese celebrate the victory in the street, “we will act as if nothing had happened?” In short, for the journalist, it is not up to a press organ to set itself up as “director of conscience”. A debate that Yves Ethève, president of the regional football league, settles in his own way: «The Daily makes com. But it’s not the team… No one cares and will be in front of their TV screen!