An agreement has been reached to end the strike at Sunday newspaper (JDD). Journalists had been protesting since June 22 against the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune, who was to take office on Tuesday.
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The announcement was made this Tuesday, August 1 by the Lagardère group, owner of the group The Sunday newspaper, and writing. An agreement was reached to end the strike which had lasted since June 22 against the appointment of an editorial director marked on the far right. In a separate press release, the Society of Journalists (SDJ) of JDD indicated that the agreement had been signed “ overnight from monday to tuesday “, while Geoffroy Lejeune was to take office today.
“ We didn’t win »
The website of JDD must resume its activity this Tuesday and the paper version of the newspaper will return to newsstands ” from mid-August “said Lagardère in its press release. ” The agreement also provides for the establishment of support conditions for journalists who wish to leave the editorial office. “, added the group.
The end of the movement was approved by 94% of the editorial staff (82 votes for, 5 against, 3 do not decide). “ It costs us to recognize this, particularly with our readers: if we have put the issue of the independence of editorial staff back in the public square, vis-à-vis our shareholder, we have not won »underlined the LDS in this bitter-toned text.
Go or stay, the painful dilemma ” journalists
“ Today, Geoffroy Lejeune takes office. It is in an empty editorial office that he will enter. Dozens of journalists refuse to work with him and should leave the JDD »she continued. “ In the next few hours, we will face a painful dilemma: leave or stay. »added the LDS. “ To leave is to say goodbye to a title which, for many of us, had become a second family. To stay is to resume work in a denatured editorial office. In any case, it will be a fight choice »she said.
The drafting of JDD had been on strike for forty days, an unprecedented length, to protest against the arrival at its head of Geoffroy Lejeune, 34, former editor of the far-right weekly Current values.
Even if Arnaud Lagardère, the boss of the group, denies it, many observers see in this appointment the hand of billionaire Vincent Bolloré, with opinions deemed ultra-conservative, while his group, Vivendi, is indeed in the process of absorb Lagardère.
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(With AFP)