The editorial staff of the “JDD” goes on strike

The editorial staff of the “Journal du dimanche” put down their pen to protest against the possible arrival at its head of Geoffroy Lejeune, the former director of the far-right weekly “Valeurs Actuelles”.

The staff of the “JDD” voted 99% (77 for, 1 against, 5 who did not decide) a renewable strike, announced its Society of Journalists (SDJ). If the majority of the staff is made up of journalists, all the functions of the title (advertising, manufacturing, etc.) took part in the vote. Main concrete consequence: from 5:30 p.m. and for 24 hours, the “JDD” site will remain “frozen”.

Website “frozen” for 24 hours

“The editorial staff of the “JDD” learned with amazement this Thursday of the expected arrival of Geoffroy Lejeune at the head of the general management of the newspaper, replacing Jérôme Béglé, indicates the SDJ in a press release. We strongly oppose this appointment.” This possible upheaval at the top of the Sunday newspaper was unveiled by “Le Monde”. According to inside sources, management has “neither denied nor confirmed”.

On June 9, after more than six months of in-depth investigation, the European Commission gave its green light the planned acquisition of Lagardère by Vivendi (Hachette, Europe1, “Paris Match”, “JDD”, etc.), while imposing corrective measures on the group controlled by the Bolloré family, however: the sale of the publishing activities of Editis and that of the people magazine “Gala”. For Editis a takeover agreement was recently reached with a subsidiary of the CMI group, owned by the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

Green light from the European Commission

In recent years, Mr. Bolloré has been accused of using the media he controls (including the CNews and C8 television channels) to promote conservative views, which he denies. In this context, within the “JDD” the potential appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune is of concern.

Geoffroy Lejeune “expresses ideas contrary to the values ​​that the JDD has carried for seventy-five years”, worries the SDJ in its press release. According to a journalist quoted by AFP but whose name remains confidential, “the same goes” for the expected arrival of Charlotte d’Ornellas, another journalist from “Current Values”. Geoffroy Lejeune was recently fired from ” Current values” following an “incident” with Jean-Louis Valentin, the new president of Valmonde, publisher of the title, against a background of disagreements about the very right-wing editorial line of the newspaper.