New era for the JDD: after a historic forty-day strike and massive departures, Geoffroy Lejeune’s JDD version was published in the night from Saturday to Sunday.
This first surprise edition, because until then announced for mid-August, was available shortly after midnight on the newspaper’s platform. “You were waiting for it, here it is” published on X (formerly Twitter) the weekly, referring to its front page. The latest edition dates back to 22 June.
🔴 You’ve been waiting for it, here it is!
🗞️ The front page of the Sunday 6 August newspaper ⤵️
➡️”We are not miscellaneous”
Open letter from the families of the victims to the President of the Republic pic.twitter.com/gQRScipeJz— The JDD (@theJDD) August 5, 2023
Readers “will find the main indicators of this newspaper and, at the same time, it is perfectly up-to-date”, estimated the new managing director during his first public speech.
“He is very busy, he defends good causes (…) It is a number that perhaps will not mark the history of France but at least the history of the press”, continued Geoffroy Lejeune on Europe 1 (radio of the Lagardère group, like the JDD).
It is a 32-page issue (20 fewer than the previous edition), the first page of which is dedicated to job insecurity and justice after the death of a 15-year-old boy stabbed to death on 22 July on the Eure river.
The new Secretary of State for the City, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, is the first member of the government to grant an interview to the JDD Lejeune version.
This number was mainly produced by external journalists, with few members of the outgoing editorial staff involved, as for the site which had already resumed activity this week, fed by the 6Médias news agency.
We find the signatures of Charlotte d’Ornellas and Raphaël Stainville (ex Valeurs Actuelles, like Geoffroy Lejeune), Pascal Praud, journalist for Europe 1 and CNews, Jacques Vendroux, for sport, or Eric Naulleau (former debate partner of Eric Zemmour , which Lejeune supported in the presidential election).
The situation at the JDD has reignited the debate on the concentration of media in the hands of a few large private groups and on the legislation governing its operation. Influencing aid to the press, strengthening the editorial board’s power over the shareholders: various avenues have been suggested, but none so far has met with approval.
The Minister of Culture is concerned
In an interview with Ouest France on Saturday, Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak believes that “there are every reason to worry given what happened to Valeurs Actuelles who, let’s remember, was convicted of inciting racial hatred.
While recalling that “the opinion press has a right to exist in France, this is part of the pluralism of the press, so we can neither limit the freedom of the press, nor limit the freedom of enterprise”.
The theme will be on the September menu of the States General of Information announced by the Elysée.
In addition, according to information from Marianne, Rodolphe Saadé, head of shipowner CMA CGM and owner of the Marseille newspaper La Provence, the business site La Tribune and the video platform Brut, is working to launch a new general-national newspaper at the end of the year of interest distributed on weekends, such as the JDD. The band declined to comment.
An agreement was reached between the strikers and the management of the Lagardère group, owner of JDD, on Tuesday, ending the historic strike by the editorial staff, which since June 22 has refused to be led by Geoffroy Lejeune.
This agreement provided for a gradual resumption of activity as well as the establishment of conditions of support for journalists wishing to leave the newsroom. Many of them had let it be known that they would not be staying.
End of the strike @leJDD : agreement between the Lagardère group, @SDJduJDD and trade unions.
The site will be updated today and the newspaper will be released in mid-August.
A departure counter is open.@MediaLeaderFR pic.twitter.com/SFgMpRZwFt— Francois QUAIREL (@fquairel) August 1, 2023
Geoffroy Lejeune, 34, aroused several controversies, in particular when the weekly Valeurs Actuelles, then under his editorship, was sentenced to a suspended fine of 1,000 euros for a public insult of a racist nature against LFI deputy Danièle Obono.
Even if Arnaud Lagardère, the boss of the group, denies it, many observers see in this appointment the hand of billionaire Vincent Bolloré, with views considered ultra-conservative.
Vivendi, Mr. Bolloré’s group that owns Canal+ and its channels (including CNews and C8), is in fact about to absorb Lagardère, owner of JDD, Paris Match and Europe 1, after a successful takeover bid.
This tycoon with allegedly very conservative views has built a media empire, triggering strikes and departures in newsrooms in the course of his acquisitions: acquisition of the Canal+ group, transformation of iTELE into CNews, acquisition in 2021 of Prisma Media, the first group magazine France and recently the takeover of the Lagardère group, owner of Europe 1, Paris Match and JDD, all reorganised.
