“It is heartbreaking for us. » In a press release published on Saturday 1er July, the Society of Journalists (SDJ) of Sunday newspaper (JDD) announced the continuation of the strike led by the editorial staff of the newspaper until Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. Started on June 21, the movement aims to denounce the appointment at its head of Geoffroy Lejeune, a journalist marked on the far right.
“For the first time in the history of JDDthe newspaper will not appear two Sundays in a row”states the press release, in which the journalists say they regret this shutdown in “a context of social and political news that we would have liked so much to be able to cover”. The previous strike in 2016 only affected the publication of one Sunday.
In total, 98% of voters expressed themselves on Saturday for the continuation of the movement (90 for, two against, four who do not decide). The teams of JDD will meet again on Monday to vote whether or not to continue this mobilization.
Calls for editorial support
Many observers see in the arrival of Mr. Lejeune at the head of the newspaper, closely followed by political and economic circles, a choice of the billionaire Vincent Bolloré, with opinions reputed to be ultra-conservative. The latter steers the Vivendi group, a media juggernaut in France, which includes the Canal+ group and its channels C8 and CNews as well as Prisma, the leading magazine press group, and the publishing group Editis.
The appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune came just after the conditional agreement given by the European Commission to Vivendi to take over Lagardère, a group to which THE Sunday newspaper as well as Paris MatchEurope 1 and the publishing leader, Hachette. “I made this decision alone. Neither Vincent Bolloré, nor anyone from Vivendi, was implicated.said Arnaud Lagardère, leader of the group of the same name, on Tuesday in the newspaper Le Figaro.
Since these announcements, several calls for support from the editorial staff of the JDD were organized, including a rally, under the aegis of Reporters Without Borders, which brought together nearly a thousand people on Tuesday. A strike fund has been opened to support the movement and a petition has been launched. By Saturday morning, she had collected more than 34,000 signatures.