The editorial director of Provence will return to his duties on Monday, the daily announced, Sunday March 24. Aurélien Viers was fired on Friday due to a headline on Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Marseille, judged ” ambiguous “ by the management of the newspaper, owned by the CMA CGM group, headed by Rodolphe Saadé.
“The management of Provence is pleased to announce an agreement with Aurélien Viers, editorial director” whose “withdrawal from layoff (…) was decided after a working meeting with Gabriel d’Harcourt, general director”specifies the title in a press release.
Journalists from the regional daily, who had denounced a “inadmissible editorial interference”have been on strike since Friday and were supported by other colleagues including those of other titles owned by Franco-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saadé.
“Many questions”
However, they are maintaining a rally planned for Monday morning in front of the newspaper’s headquarters in Marseille, because “many questions remain”declared to Agence France-Presse an elected official from the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) Provence. “We recall that the “one” invoked for the layoff was not problematic”he added.
The crisis started with the announcement of the dismissal of Mr. Viers for the front page of the regional daily on Thursday, crossed out from the title “[Emmanuel Macron] is gone and we are still here…”using the words of a resident of the impoverished town of La Castellane, in Marseille, interviewed on the inside page.
The title overlooks a photo showing two people, from behind, watching a police officer pass by on patrol in this city of the second largest city in France, where the President of the Republic came by surprise on Tuesday to announce an operation “Place net XXL”, which he presented as being ” unprecedented “ in the fight against drug trafficking.
This quotation “was included in the front page, without being explicitly sourced. This error in the composition of the front page is problematic, with some readers believing that this quote came from drug traffickers. She is at the origin of the call to order from the editorial director”estimates the management in its press release, which also apologizes to readers for the fact that the newspaper has no publication on Saturday, Sunday or Monday.