The JDD teams have been on strike since June 22 and are still asking management to renounce the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune. They also want guarantees of legal and editorial independence for the editorial staff.
The drafting of Sunday newspaper spoke out Thursday, July 13 to 97% in favor of continuing the strike and still opposes the arrival of Geoffroy Lejeune, marked on the far right, at the head of the weekly. The JDD could, on Sunday, be absent from newsstands for the fourth consecutive week, which has never happened before.
>> “It’s really the same operating methods”: before the strike at the “JDD”, what precedents for media takeovers by Vincent Bolloré
Bertrand Gréco journalist and co-president of the society of journalists of Sunday newspaper recognizes that the drafting “is a little disappointed by the reluctance of the responses of the presidential majority and the Republican right”, in the face of this social conflict and would like “more assertive support.”
france info: You voted to renew the strike. Are you convinced that there can be a way out and a beginning of dialogue with the management of your newspaper on the fact that the editorial management is not assumed by Geoffroy Lejeune?
Bertrand Greco: We have two demands. The first is the cancellation of the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune as head of the Sunday newspaper. The second is the implementation of legal and editorial independence of the editorial staff, at the very least guarantees on the maintenance of its editorial line. We voted Thursday at 97% for the renewal of the strike. THE Sunday newspaper did not appear three Sundays in a row.
“It is very likely that the newspaper will not appear for a fourth Sunday, which has never happened in the history of this title in 75 years of existence.”
Bertrand Gréco, journalist and co-president of the Journal du Dimanche Society of Journalistsat franceinfo
We are still waiting for the management to respond favorably on these two points and in particular on the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune, which we reject as a whole.
Do you feel like you are heard on the outside, if you are not on the inside?
We have the feeling of being heard by many people. Our strike is causing a lot of talk. She is media. It arouses the concern of a large number of citizens and officials, personalities who do not support us. But in the political world, we would like to be more supported by the government and the executive, more heard by the Republican right.
You have heard the very cautious answers, very cautious on the part of the executive when it comes to the JDD and press freedom issues. Are you surprised by this absence of a position?
We are a little disappointed by the reluctance of the responses from the presidential majority and the Republican right. We would indeed like their support to be more assertive. But on the other hand, we are delighted that the President of the Republic announced Thursday the holding of the general assembly of the press. This is what we asked him in an open letter which appeared last Sunday in West France.
The editorial and political takeover of the JDD by Vincent Bolloré’s group seems obvious to you. Is this an attack on freedom of the press?
We realize that an ideology is in the process of taking hold of a certain number of media, including the Sunday newspaper. We can legitimately worry about it. This ideology has every right to exist in a democracy, to express itself and to have media. The problem is that, with regard to the JDD, it was a radical line change. If Vincent Bolloré or Geoffroy Lejeune want to create a newspaper to defend their political ideas, that’s up to them.
“Making a hold-up on an existing editorial staff, on a newspaper which has a history, which has values, which defends pluralism and which wants to be apolitical, we consider that it is an attack.”
Bertrand Gréco, journalist and co-president of the Journal du Dimanche Society of Journalistsat franceinfo
It is even an attack on the freedom of the press, on our editorial staff who did not ask to find themselves in this situation and to change lines as promised.
It is a movement that lasts. What is the morale today on the editorial side of the JDD?
It is very difficult to go on strike. When you’re on strike, you don’t get paid. It’s been three numbers in a row that we haven’t been able to appear. We are in our third week of strike, and beyond our salaries which are not paid, it is heartbreaking for us not to publish our newspaper and to miss the news which is rich . We would like to be able to do our job as we have always done, completely independently. It’s extremely painful to go on strike, but every day we vote to renew the strike, even today [jeudi] at 97%. The editorial staff is extremely mobilized and extremely united and determined in its fight.