Bernard Descôteaux, who died on January 13, was a significant figure for the director of Duty, Brian Myles, and the editor-in-chief, Marie-Andrée Chouinard. Exceptionally, the two of them sign this tribute which they would have liked to postpone to infinity.
A soft consensus quickly emerged, a genre of which Bernard Descôteaux was so fond, when highlighting his contribution to the public debate and the advancement of the Duty, his home, his second family for life. Died of generalized cancer at the age of 77, he is portrayed as an affable, courteous man with legendary phlegm. A quiet force in a media which has the reputation of being dominated by the fear of tomorrows which disillusion so much its story was marked by necessity.
In this sense, it was one of the greatest achievements of Bernard Descôteaux, director of the daily from 1999 to 2016. He projected an image of calm and patience in a decade marked by the advent of “Web 2.0” and the he inexorable erosion of the traditional mass media business model. You won’t find anyone saying he had a dark side, or hidden flaws. Bernard was a man of integrity, without malice, which did not prevent him from having the skills of a fine strategist and a cunning fox. These talents were revealed behind closed doors, in one-on-one confidences.
The big speeches? Very little for him. As editor-in-chief, from 1990 to 1999, or as director, when he succeeded Lise Bissonnette, he championed individualized support. It was little by little, without making any noise, that he put forward, as best he could, a plan to revive the Duty with investors who are difficult to convince.
When he retired, he left “a house in order”. The duty was not out of the woods, however, and efforts to recapitalize and accelerate digital transformation were necessary. If Bernard had not prepared the ground, with the support of the chairman of the board of directors at the time, the late Jean Lamarre, The duty would not have the success that we know today.
Spark plug for the centenary celebrations, in 2010, with the support of Michel Petit and Friends of Duty, Bernard will have made it possible to relaunch a deep relationship of admiration and trust between the artisans of the Duty and Quebec society. But of all the strategic decisions he made, the most important was to resist the siren song of free services.
As early as 1997, during the launch of our website (an original idea of the late Benoît Munger), he was involved in the decision to lay the foundations of a business model based on digital subscription, with the support of the late Jean-Robert Sansfaçon, his associate, and Lise Bissonnette. While all the major media in the world are today turning to user contribution (through digital subscription or donation), this decision makes him a precursor, a qualifier that he would reject out of hand if he could respond.
With his discreet façade and his legendary calm, Bernard was very accessible. For many people in the journalistic world, he was a good boss, a facilitator or a thought leader. What a solid mentor whose first quality was listening, before distributing his wise advice. We don’t really know of any mood swings – public! — and, although he often found himself forced by his role to make arbitrations, he proved to be a brilliant master of the art of balancing the goat and the cabbage.
Every lunchtime, he participated in the production meetings of the Duty. A man of few words, but of powerful and accurate words, he sometimes asked his questions, which changed the course of things. Every day, he would stop by the newsroom before returning home, to take a look at the front page. There was there the benevolence of a professional father interested in the work of his craftsmen, but also the interest of the first journalist of the Duty for what his medium had to offer readers.
Writing editorials, one of the many roles incumbent on the directors of the Duty, was not his favorite sport. It was necessary to see his accomplice and friend Jean-Robert Sansfaçon, who was his editor-in-chief, shake Bernard’s fleas by telling him, at the end of a daily editorial meeting: “Come on, Bernard, it’s your turn! You haven’t written this week! » Smiling – one of his trademarks – the director willingly lent himself to this essential task, and was the author of numerous powerful texts testifying to the importance he attached to the future of Quebec and of its institutions.
Bernard will forever remain inseparable from the rich history of Duty, his second family after his sweet Marie and their children. Barely 24 hours before leaving this world on which he undoubtedly left his mark, he wrote to those around him, almost apologizing for having reached the end of his life, which he had “good and beautiful”: “ It’s hard to believe that the end of the road is coming. I would have done another long stretch with you, but you have to do what you have to. »