some politicians are concerned about the arrival of Geoffroy Lejeune at the head of the newspaper

Still on strike, the employees of the Sunday newspaper meet on Wednesday June 28 to decide whether or not to continue their movement. And now the politicians are inviting themselves into this crisis, with several interventions by deputies from the Macronist majority and the Nupes on Tuesday during the session of questions to the government in the Assembly. And then a petition, signed by several hundred personalities including dozens of political figures, including Anne Hidalgo, Martine Aubry and even Lionel Jospin. Everyone is indignant at the appointment as editor of the Sunday newspaper by Geoffroy Lejeune, ex-director of the far-right weekly Current Values, close friend and loyal supporter of Marion Maréchal and Eric Zemmour. And everyone is worried about Vincent Bolloré’s desire to serve the ideas of the extreme right with the press titles of the Lagardère group, which he is finally taking possession of.

An uninhibited ideological offensive

The state cannot oppose the appointment of the director of a newspaper, of course, and that’s good. It is the sovereign decision of a private shareholder. Fortunately, newspaper editors are not chosen by governments. In fact, since the law on freedom of the press of 1984, which tried to curb the appetites of the Hersant group, the State has mainly deployed means to try to limit the concentration of the media. This does not prevent the constitution of a handful of very large groups at the risk of threatening pluralism. But what is new with Vincent Bolloré is that he is not only leading a capitalistic strategy, but an uninhibited ideological offensive. He does not take gloves to build an ultra-conservative press group, as shown for example by the transformation of iTélé into CNews. This is what worries elected officials – well, those who are not far right or extreme right. And this is what can encourage reform of the law to give editorial staff more means to protect their editorial independence.

In the meantime, the mobilization of these hundreds of personalities serves to sound the tocsin to defend a real democratic issue and to alert public opinion. After all, the fate of a newspaper depends primarily on the attitude of its readers. If tomorrow, they abandon a title they no longer recognize, even the most cynical of shareholders could end up changing their strategy to stop losing money.