Taken in hand by Vincent Bolloré, the fate of the “Journal du Dimanche” divides the political class. Jean-Rémi Baudot’s political brief.
He signed, a little in spite of himself, the media news of the weekend: the Sunday newspaper is one of the media recently bought by Vincent Bolloré, the Breton businessman, who has already distinguished himself in his desire to right the media he owns: CNews, Europe1, Paris Match…and so the JDD. He has just placed at the head of the weekly: Geoffroy Lejeune, former boss of the far-right magazine Current Values. An appointment denounced by the editorial staff of JDD who went on strike, thus preventing the publication of the newspaper on Sunday June 25.
>> Canal+, i-Télé, “Paris Match”… Before the “JDD”, Vincent Bolloré’s stranglehold on other media pointed many editorial staff
And what happens when a powerful newspaper finds itself in the hands of an editor who does not hide his closeness to Eric Zemmour or Marion Maréchal? On the far right, some are already rubbing their hands. This weekend, at the Fête de la Violette organized by Reconquête, Guillaume Peltier paid tribute to the new team of the JDD, rejoicing in advance to see less of the right in the front page of the newspaper. More cynically, an RN MP wrote this weekend to journalists from the editorial staff on strike to tell them that from now on she was going to buy their newspaper more often.
The paralyzed Macronie
And how are the other parties reacting? In reality, it is especially the left which reacts: there is no notable reaction on the right, and a quasi-silence on the side of the majority, apart from a tweet from the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, who says “be alarmed” For “republican values“, but specifies that in the state”THE JDD can become whatever he wants, as long as he respects the law”.
In Macronie, publicly, we keep a low profile. But behind the scenes, journalists receive many messages of support. It was the same method at the time of the change of direction at Europe 1: SMS, calls… Paris Match, some were entitled to a phone call from President Macron, but nothing publicly. Advisers, ministers, no one was talkative on Sunday: Macronie, so quick to denounce the far right, is paralyzed in the face of Bolloré.
An outdated law?
So, can things change? In 2022, the candidate Macron had promised “States General of the right to information”. The Élysée swears that this promise is not forgotten. However, the idea was to talk about misinformation, fake news, media concentration and overhaul of press aid. Some push the idea that the editorial staff can validate their direction. Some newspapers already do this. The problem is that politically, the independence of the media is only supported by the left: there is no electoral gain to be expected and only blows to be taken…
In the meantime, the media are changing hands and editorial line: journalists are being fired for political reasons. Most observers believe that the current law is totally outdated.