Journalists from the regional daily Provence voted Friday for an indefinite strike, denouncing “inadmissible editorial interference” after the dismissal of the editorial director following an article deemed “ambiguous” by management on Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Marseille. The newspaper, owned by the shipowner CMA CGM, will not appear from Saturday and the journalists’ union has demanded “the immediate reinstatement” of editorial director Aurélien Viers.
“We can’t let this go.”
“This is unacceptable editorial interference, we cannot let this pass,” reacted to AFP Audrey Letellier, union representative of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ), a majority in the editorial staff of one of the main regional titles from the south-east of France. “How can we dismiss an editorial director based on ambiguity?” she added, deeming this decision “disproportionate”. The SNJ had denounced in the morning “political pressure” 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.
Journalists demand “immediate” reinstatement of editorial director
We “demand the immediate reinstatement of the editorial director”, indicates the inter-union (SNJ, CFE-CGC and CFDT) of Provence in a press release. “He (Emmanuel Macron, editor’s note) has left and we are still here…”, headlined the Marseille-based newspaper on Thursday, 48 hours after a surprise visit by the President of the Republic, repeating the words of a resident quoted on an inside page.
The title overlooks a photo showing two people, from behind, watching a police officer pass by on patrol in a city of Marseille, where Emmanuel Macron came by surprise on Tuesday to announce an “XXL clean square” operation, which he presented as “unprecedented” against drug trafficking.
Readers ‘misled’, apology statement says
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 newspaper’s “deepest apologies” for this front page, which “misled our readers” by having could “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’re making talk, but even if that were the case, we’re making whoever we want to talk talk,” said Audrey Letellier, emphasizing that the 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.