“It’s heartbreaking for us. In a press release published on Saturday July 1, the Society of Journalists (SDJ) of the Sunday Journal (JDD) announced the continuation of the strike led by the editorial staff of the newspaper until Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. Started on June 21, the movement aims to denounce the appointment at its head of Geoffroy Lejeune, a journalist marked on the far right.
“For the first time in the history of the JDD, the newspaper will not appear two Sundays in a row”, states the press release, in which the journalists say they regret this shutdown in “a context of social and political news that we so wish we could cover.” The previous strike in 2016 only affected the publication of one Sunday.
In total, 98% of voters expressed themselves on Saturday for the continuation of the movement (90 for, two against, four who do not decide). The JDD teams will meet again on Monday to vote whether or not to continue this mobilization.
Calls for editorial support
Many observers see in the arrival of Mr. Lejeune at the head of the newspaper, closely followed by political and economic circles, a choice of the billionaire Vincent Bolloré, with opinions deemed ultra-conservative. The latter leads the Vivendi group, a media juggernaut in France, which includes the Canal group and its channels C8 and CNews as well as Prisma, the leading magazine press group, and the publishing group Editis.
Geoffroy Lejeune’s appointment came just after the European Commission granted Vivendi conditional agreement to take over Lagardère, a group to which Le Journal du Dimanche also belongs, as well as Paris Match, Europe 1 and publishing leader Hachette. “I made this decision alone. Neither Vincent Bolloré, nor anyone from Vivendi, was involved,” said Arnaud Lagardère, leader of the group of the same name, in the newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday.
Since these announcements, several calls for support from the editorial staff of the JDD have been organized, in particular a rally, under the aegis of Reporters Without Borders, which brought together nearly a thousand people on Tuesday. A strike fund was opened to support the movement and a petition was launched. By Saturday morning, she had collected more than 34,000 signatures.