Journalists from the regional daily Provence voted, Friday March 22, for an indefinite strike, denouncing a “inadmissible editorial interference” after the dismissal of the editorial director following a judged “one” ” ambiguous “ by the management on Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Marseille on Tuesday.
The newspaper, owned by the shipowner CMA CGM, will not appear from Saturday, and the inter-union of journalists has requested “immediate reintegration” by the editorial director, Aurélien Viers. The editorial team also adopted a motion of no confidence in the management of the title and the WhyNot Media group, the media branch of CMA CGM, whose boss, the Franco-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, is increasing its acquisitions in the sector.
“We can’t let this go”reacted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Audrey Letellier, union representative of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ), majority in the editorial staff of one of the main regional titles in the south-east of France. “How can you fire an editorial director based on ambiguity? »she added, judging this decision “disproportionate”. The SNJ had denounced in the morning “political pressures” to dismiss Aurélien Viers.
Of the 163 ballots cast at the general meeting, 79% were in favor of an indefinite strike and a motion of no confidence targeting the general management of the newspaper and that of the media branch of CMA CGM. The rest of the journalists only voted for the motion of no confidence. Another newspaper owned by the same shipowner, the editorial staff of The gallery decided in favor of a strike on Tuesday, AFP learned from an elected staff member.
” He [Emmanuel Macron] is gone and we are still here…”
On Thursday, the newspaper located in Marseille headlined ” He [Emmanuel Macron] is gone and we are still here…”, forty-eight hours after a surprise visit from the President of the Republic, repeating the words of a resident quoted in an inside page. The title overlooks a photo showing two people, from behind, watching a police officer pass on patrol in a city in Marseille, where Emmanuel Macron came by surprise on Tuesday to announce an operation “XXL net space”which he presented as ” unprecedented “ against drug trafficking.
Following this publication, the editorial director of Provence was laid off for a week, and summoned for an interview prior to dismissal, which is the rule in this matter, without prejudging the outcome.
In an insert “To our readers” published Friday on the front page of the daily, the director of the publication, Gabriel d’Harcourt, presents the “deepest apologies” of the newspaper for this “front page”, which “misled our readers” having been able to “to suggest that we were complacently giving voice to drug traffickers determined to taunt public authority”.
“It’s not even a question of a drug trafficker that we make talk, but even if that were the case, we make whoever we want to talk talk”estimated Audrey Letellier, stressing that the editorial staff had not received any complaints from readers, “just a few tweets from local elected officials”. Contacted by AFP, Gabriel d’Harcourt did not immediately respond.