He continues to take his coffee from the machine that sits at the entrance to the editorial office of the West France, reindeer. Question of habit for François-Xavier Lefranc, journalist who became president of the management board of the publication since June 22. The announcement of his appointment at the head of the most widely circulated French title (645,345 daily copies in 2022) did not make waves. She even reassured within this company of 1,600 employees, including 768 journalists.
Son of Breton peasants, François-Xavier Lefranc is a known face in the newspaper where he started out as an editorial secretary in 1985, before serving in Calvados, Orne, Manche, then climbing the ranks at the Rennes headquarters. He succeeds Louis Echelard who joined West France, in 2006, after a career with Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne. “FX”, as he is nicknamed in the corridors of the company, is advancing on familiar ground, but not yet conquered. So he defends his strategy, in particular his ambition to affirm West France in a national newspaper: “I don’t like people to make a distinction between the PQR, the regional daily press, and the PQN, the national daily press. As if there were small and large newspapers. West France is a major French-language media, rooted in its territory, but open to the world. »
Growing digital audiences convinced him of the breadth of readership “to conquer”. Eight out of ten users of the newspaper’s sites and applications do not live in the west of France. François-Xavier Lefranc therefore promises to invest in journalism and particularly video, investigation, reporting, long-format… to “to establish itself as the major French media that reflects the diversity of the territory”.
Casting concerns
The strategy also involves maintaining local information, despite the drop, in a few years, from 2,600 to 2,100 local press correspondents, these non-professional relays essential for reporting village news. How ? A reflection around the “tomorrow’s newspaper” was set up to rethink organizations and content. THE “profound changes” to come will not condemn, according to the management board, the paper version of the newspaper. Although its circulation has dropped by 20% in five years, it still generates 83% of the company’s 320 million annual turnover.
“If promoting a journalist at the head of the first French daily can only reassure the editorial staff, the concern remains on the printing and distribution part”, alert the representatives of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ). Currently, 400 of the 4,000 porters needed for the morning delivery of the newspaper to subscribers’ mailboxes are missing. “These difficulties will persist if we do not reverse the trend”, recognizes Maud Lévrier, appointed to the executive board to oversee corporate social responsibility, CSR, but also the distribution of the title. This 30-year-old wants to develop the recovery of old numbers, in order to recycle them as thermal insulation. This additional task carried out by the deliverers would make it possible to increase their income and thus make the porterage activity more attractive.
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