JOURNALISTS at France’s sole dedicated national Sunday newspaper today vowed to press on with a strike in protest at the appointment of a young new editor close to the far right, pursuing the longest such action in French media for almost half a century.  

Staff at the Journal du Dimanche (JDD) have been on strike for over a month over the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune, 34, as new editor-in-chief, meaning the influential publication has now missed five consecutive issues.  

Its current owner Lagardere Group announced late yesterday that Lejeune would assume his duties on August 1, prompting a furious reaction from its journalists’ association (SDJ) branch who said they were “more determined than ever”.  

It accused Lagardere of “unilaterally breaking negotiations” aiming to end the crisis and said it was “astonished” by the news Lejeune would take up his post on August 1 when “98% of the newsroom are against and refuse to work with him”.  

For its part, Lagadere News said it “regretted the position of the SDJ” which it said had “led to a breakdown in negotiations”.  

The SDJ said that JDD staff had today voted with a 98% majority to continue to strike into a 33rd day.   

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the action was now the longest strike in French media since a 28-month strike by staff on Le Parisien daily that began in 1975.  

“The fact that the JDD strike has lasted so long may be a surprise, but the record length is commensurate with the attack on journalistic values,” said Christophe Deloire, RSF’s secretary general.  

“I hail the determination and courage of the journalists of the JDD who refuse to be eaten alive,” he added.  

The controversy has erupted as conservative billionaire Vincent Bollore is in the process of acquiring Lagardere, which also owns Paris Match magazine and Europe 1 radio, after a successful takeover bid.  

Lejeune was until recently editor of the far-right weekly Valeurs Actuelles whose profile he helped raise through provocative headlines and caustic attacks on the country’s politicians and intellectuals.  

He endorsed far-right media commentator Eric Zemmour during his campaign for the presidency last year and is a close friend of Marion Marechal, the niece of far-right patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen.  

Bollore, a conservative Catholic from northwest France, has been gradually expanding his empire to take in TV channels and now print media.  

The JDD, which has weekly sales of around 140,000, has in recent years toed a centrist line and been seen as generally sympathetic to the government of President Emmanuel Macron. – AFP, July 25, 2023.