A glimmer of hope for New Caledonians? The public prosecutor in New Caledonia asked Thursday that a recovery plan for the only daily in the South Pacific territory be favored, rather than its dry judicial liquidation.
The Mixed Commercial Court of Nouméa, which was to rule Thursday morning on the request for liquidation of the Melchior Group, owner of the newspaper, postponed its final decision until Friday.
“Given the stakes and the interests in preserving this tool of pluralism and freedom of expression, without denying the difficulties, it seemed important to me to see all the possibilities of support for a continuation of activity”, declared the prosecutor. In addition to the diversity of the press, he insisted on the social aspect of this liquidation. The Melchior group, to which Les Nouvelles calédoniennes belongs, employed nearly 120 people.
A group in difficulty for years
The New Caledonians, founded in 1971, appeared for the last time on Thursday, for lack of a buyer. The shareholders of the press group Melchior had announced to the hundred or so employees that they had requested the judicial liquidation of the daily newspaper as well as the newspaper Le Gratuit. The Melchior group, made up solely of local interests, had bought Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes in 2013 from the Hersant group, without ever succeeding in finding a balance.
The Caledonian News had thus ceased to appear in paper format on December 31 in favor of a 100% digital edition, leading to the closure of the Pacific Rotary printer, belonging to the Melchior group, and the dismissal of 17 people.