Saturday morning, journalists from JDD massively voted in favor of renewing the strike against the arrival at the head of the newspaper of Geoffroy Lejeune, the magazine’s former editorial director Current Values, thus extending it until Tuesday. These journalists have now been on strike for more than a month, exceeding the duration of the 31-day strike led by iTélé journalists in 2016, the Society of Journalists (SDJ) said in a statement. “Despite the duration of this mobilization, the teams of the JDD remain determined to continue their fight”, motivates the SDJ of the weekly.
The continuation of this strike, which began on June 22, was approved by 98% of voters (98 for, 2 against, 4 who did not decide), according to the SDJ of the weekly. The latter will not appear on Sunday for the 5th week in a row, a journalist from the JDD.
500,000 euros of losses each non-publication
Many observers see in the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune, the hand of the billionaire Vincent Bolloré, whose Vivendi group must swallow Lagardère, owner of the JDDof Paris Match and Europe 1, after a successful takeover bid.
The situation of JDD thus recalls the strikes of Europe 1 in 2021 and of iTélé (become CNews, property of Vivendi) in 2016, concluded each time by massive departures. Enough to put the question of the independence of the media back on the political agenda.
Deputies from eight political groups (excluding RN and LR) notably presented a bill on the subject on Wednesday, while the Elysée formalized the launch in September of the States General of Information, expected for a year.
The cost of the strike is already weighing heavily on the JDD : each non-appearance of the newspaper would result in 500,000 euros in losses, according to a figure revealed by the daily The world and mentioned by “a member of the advertising department at the very beginning of the mobilization”, the journalist from the newspaper told AFP on Friday. JDDWilliam Cairo.