A response to the surprise departure of the editorial director. The Society of Journalists (SDJ) of Echoes protested Thursday against the sidelining of Nicolas Barré, seeing it as a “brutal eviction by the shareholder”, the billionaire Bernard Arnault. “The press release from the group’s management announcing the departure of Nicolas Barré from his post as editorial director of the Echoes cannot hide the reality which is that of its brutal eviction by the shareholder”, estimated the SDJ of the economic daily in a statement posted on Twitter.
“We, journalists of the Echoes, affirm our determination to uphold editorial independence,” she continued. “We are not fooled,” added the SDJ, recalling that journalists who so wish will go on a “signature strike” from Thursday noon and for 24 hours in the online newspaper and in the paper edition on Friday. .
On Wednesday the group The echoes–The Parisian formalized the departure of Nicolas Barré, announcing that he was “called to occupy new functions within the editorial staff”. This group is owned by the luxury giant LVMH, of which Bernard Arnault is CEO.
“Threats to the independence of the newspaper”
The day before, Tuesday, the media The letter a said that the managing editor was going to be fired from the post he had held for about 10 years. This had provoked a worried reaction from the SDJ as to “the existence of threats to the independence of the newspaper”. The SDJ had wondered about a “link between this departure and the publication in recent weeks of several articles which would have displeased the shareholder”.
In its press release on Thursday, the SDJ considers that the “eviction” of Nicolas Barré is “in contradiction with the guarantees of independence fiercely negotiated at the time of the takeover of the Echoes by LVMH in 2007”.