eight former directors of the “JDD” support the strike against the arrival of Geoffroy Lejeune

Eight former directors of Sunday newspaper Monday, June 26, brought their support to the employees who started a strike against the arrival of the far-right journalist Geoffroy Lejeune at the direction of the weekly. He previously worked for the far-right magazine Current values.

The strike was voted and renewed since Thursday, June 22 and until Wednesday, with the quasi-unanimity of the editorial staff. The strikers oppose the arrival of Geoffroy Lejeune at the head of the newspaper, now controlled by Vincent Bolloré, who constitutes for them a “Red line”. They also ask for guarantees for their independence. The movement paralyzed the media’s website and prevented the publication of the newspaper on Sunday. Several left-wing politicians, as well as the Minister of Culture, have also expressed serious concern.

“The far right is quietly settling into the media”

This arrival “is not just a provocation and a demonstration that the far right is now quietly taking hold in the media”underline these former leaders of the newspaper, in a letter sent by the Society of Journalists (SDJ) of JDD at AFP. “It is also a denial in front of all the editorial staff and the readers. (…) To think that the identity of a newspaper can be erased in this way is to endanger the very foundation of our profession”, they add. Among the signatories are Hervé Gattegno, licensee of Paris Match and JDD in 2021, Cyril Petit, who succeeded him for a few months until May 2022, or Alain Genestar, editorial director from 1987 to 1999.