The duty is in mourning. Bernard Descôteaux, who led the daily from 1999 to 2016, died this Saturday morning, January 13, from generalized cancer at the age of 77. His time at the head of the newspaper was marked by the decline of paper and the exodus of advertising revenue. During these turbulent times, the newsroom could at least always count on his dedication. The survival of Duty is very keen on his unifying qualities and his flair. It is to him, among others, that we owe the start of the digital shift.
“As director of Duty, he always knew how to maintain a balance. He knew he was guardian of the legacy of Duty, this emblematic newspaper for Quebec. But at the same time, he also knew how to evolve the newspaper so that it adapted to the times,” summarizes the former president of SODEC Monique Simard, who knew Bernard Descôteaux well.
Their meeting dates back to the time when Monique Simard held the highest positions within the CSN. At the time, Bernard Descôteaux was the president of the editorial employees’ union, which is linked to this central union.
Hired by Claude Ryan as a journalist in 1974, Bernard Descôteaux ultimately held almost all the positions within the Duty. He covered municipal affairs before becoming a parliamentary correspondent in Quebec and Ottawa.
In 1990, the new director Lise Bissonnette named him editor-in-chief. The scale of the task is immense. The daily founded 80 years earlier by Henri Bourrassa was then on the brink of collapse. “The newspaper was experiencing major difficulties, certainly in financial matters, but also editorially and editorially. At its head, we will have been the very first team of professional journalists. [Bernard] had immediately agreed to take this risk and had launched into it unconditionally, despite the general distrust expressed in various circles where a scenario of closure of the newspaper was being whispered”, recalled Lise Bissonnette, paying tribute to her former issue two in writing.
The arrival of Lise Bissonnette, the first woman to run a daily newspaper in the country, shakes up the newsroom. His recovery plan is poorly received by some. Significant concessions are being asked of employees. In August 1993, a standoff between management and journalists suspended printing of the newspaper for two days. The future of Duty is absolutely in danger. With a calm and unifying temperament, Bernard Descôteaux will have played a leading role in resolving the impasse.
“He was extraordinary during this period. On the one hand, he was in solidarity with the management of Ms. Bissonnette, who was under enormous pressure from the people who financed The duty to reduce costs. But on the other hand, it also included the newsroom. He really bridged the gap between the two. So despite the very difficult situation, his attitude helped not to fuel antagonisms,” explains Josée Boileau, then president of the editorial union.
Quiet nationalist
When Lise Bissonnette leaves the management of Duty in 1998 to direct the Grande Bibliothèque, Bernard Descôteaux was the ideal successor. He officially becomes the eighth director in the history of the Duty the following year, inheriting a newspaper in a more enviable financial situation than at the start of the decade, but still precarious.
The editorial line remains essentially the same: nationalist and social democratic. But his management style differs from that of his predecessor, who made a point of taking up a lot of space in the media to embody Le Devoir precisely when it needed a strong identity.
“Bernard was a very discreet person. He wasn’t looking for the light. He did not hesitate to delegate to the people around him. He trusted, and that was very appreciated. He did not need to pull the cover from his side to impose his authority. He naturally had some. He exuded a form of wisdom in the newsroom,” remembers Josée Boileau, who will be his editor-in-chief from 2009 until his retirement in 2016.
She succeeded in these functions from Jean-Robert Sansfaçon, great accomplice of Bernard Descôteaux, who died in December 2022. “When I was editor-in-chief, Jean-Robert remained an editorialist. He and I often disagreed when the newspaper needed to take a position. I was much more to the left than him, who had a more economic background. Bernard was the one who found common ground. He knew how to listen to everyone’s points of view and make decisions. Bernard was above all a pragmatist. Yes, he was a nationalist. But he was a quiet nationalist,” relates Josée Boileau, who was one of the only Duty to be familiar with him.
Visionary
“Monsieur Descôteaux”, as he was called with deference in the room, was at the head of the Duty for 17 years. He is one of the longest-serving directors in the history of the newspaper.
These 17 years have not been a long, quiet river. In 2015, when Le Devoir was once again in the red, it implemented a voluntary departure plan. Bernard Descôteaux had to face the decline of the paper throughout the period he was director, becoming one of the first voices to plead for government aid for the media.
As director, he strived to ensure that The duty stays in the game and takes the digital turn, but not under any conditions. In 2002, in the era when free access was in vogue in the early days of the Internet, Le Devoir stood apart by imposing a paywall on its website. A bold bet, which will have proven to be wise, given that today, most of the world’s major dailies reserve at least part of their content for their subscribers.
“ The Press had decided to become completely free. To keep The duty paying, it went against the general trend. But it was a very wise decision by Bernard, when we know how subscribers are essential in financing the newspaper,” underlines Florian Sauvageau, the founder of the Media Study Center at Laval University.
Mr. Sauvageau had asked Bernard Descôteaux to take over the management of the Media Study Center when he retired from Duty, in 2016. He was in contact with him until recently. Florian Sauvageau will remember him as a discreet, but intelligent man. “A quiet strength,” he said.
Intellectual rigor
Same story for the current editor-in-chief of Duty, Marie-Andrée Chouinard, who remembers being hired as a journalist in 1996 by Bernard Descôteaux. “Bernard was a quiet force, a man of great wisdom and exceptional righteousness. Working alongside him, I learned the profession of journalist and editorialist, and it was not uncommon for me to arrive in his office with writing anxiety to soothe. He always had good advice, with his incredible memory and wealth of experience. He will remain a valuable guide through all the teachings he left behind,” she said.
The current director of Duty, Brian Myles, who succeeded Bernard Descôteaux in 2016, also underlined the great righteousness of the man who has just left us. “He will have devoted his entire career to the search for the common good and the advancement of Quebec society and its institutions. The duty, it was Bernard’s extended family. We never forgot him even after his retirement, unfortunately too short, in 2016. We keep the memory of a kind, upright, honest and funny man in his spare time. Farewell, Comrade! » he reacted in writing.
Bernard Descôteaux is survived by his wife, Marie Lavigne, who notably chaired the Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal and the Conseil du statut de la femme, as well as their two children, Alexe and Aubert.