Geoffroy Lejeune's arrival at the head of the JDD: a senseless hoopla6 reading minutes

The turmoil caused at the highest levels by the appointment of the ex-boss of Valeurs actuelles to the Sunday newspaper is selective, misplaced indignation. Small development of point of view I expressed on RTS on July 4.

One month ago today. On June 23, Geoffroy Lejeune, former editorial director of the conservative weekly Valeurs actuelles, was officially appointed head of the Sunday newspaper (JDD). Since the rumour of his appointment relayed by Le Monde the day before, journalists at this leading French magazine, which tends to be center-right, announced that they were going on strike. This was due to a «refusal to be managed by a man whose ideas are in total contradiction with the values of the newspaper», according to a press release issued by the Society of Journalists on June 22.

The strike continues even today, taking it past the one-month mark that had been the duration of the strike by journalists at the iTélé channel, now CNEWS, when it was bought by billionaire Vincent Bolloré in 2016. The same fear has been voiced for the past month: that the businessman would have far-right ideas, which he would spread by taking over more and more French media. His Vivendi group is on the verge of swallowing Lagardère, owner of the JDD, of Paris Match and Europe 1, following a successful takeover bid. Many observers see Geoffroy Lejeune's arrival at the helm of France's only major Sunday newspaper as a «Bolloré takeover».

If the validation of a media outlet's management by its editorial staff is a real debate, it only concerns the media outlet in question. However, the entire country's elites, who claim to be on the side of good, have made it a political issue. No fewer than 400 players from the political, economic, social, cultural, associative and sporting worlds have signed an article in Le Monde to declare that «the JDD cannot become a newspaper serving extreme right-wing ideas». The French Minister of Culture herself issued a tweet where she expressed alarm about «republican values». In addition, a cross-party bill to protect the «editorial freedom of the media» was presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Who are they to say what a private media outlet should do?

The point here is not to ask what these Sunday outraged mean by «extreme right» or «republican values», words almost never defined in contemporary political debate, which too often consists of labeling instead of argumentation. Rather, the point is this: even if Geoffroy Lejeune embodies the extreme right, whatever that means, it's up to the boss of a company - in this case, a media outlet - to decide on its direction. In the same way, it's up to readers to decide what they read.

According to all the polls, moreover, the French are far more conservative than the British. JDD current market. This operation certainly meets a demand. And if it turns out to be a fiasco, so much the better for the competition. In fact, before the JDD, Geoffroy Lejeune has been dismissed from Valeurs actuelles... because he defended a line too far to the right. Why, then, should people be so taken aback by the forthcoming - and still presumed! - of JDD are they not moved by the fact that Valeurs actuelles is also likely to be gutted? Doubtless, because this would mean admitting that some media - contrary to what Patrick Baudouin, President of the Ligue des droits de l'homme, for example, claims - are moving to the left, while others are moving to the right. Life, in short.

The case is even more basic, alas: «all the left has to do is see itself challenged to believe it's under siege», as the aptly-named in an interview Quebec sociologist Mathieu Bock-Côté in 2020. Already a minority in the minds of the population, the representatives of a certain moral left cannot bear to become a minority in the media.

Having said that, let's not avoid a fundamental discussion: it would not be good for pluralism if Bolloré were to buy up all the private media in France. But it's good that businessmen are investing in the press. Ideally, there should be a diversity of such players, just as a variety of viewpoints is necessary for public debate. Now, if there is such a desire at the highest level to «save» a Sunday paper with ideas said to be close to Macron's, wouldn't it be possible to somehow finance a new weekly to compete with the new one? JDD? For example, through a wealthy patron close to the president? Or participatory financing? In short, those who don't like Geoffroy Lejeune don't have to keep reading the JDD or work on it. Let them create another title. The press will be all the better for it.

The real issue is public media

The other highly criticizable aspect of this political-media indignation is the umpteenth «double standard» it reveals. When a former co-director of the major left-wing daily Release is (once again) the host of the morning show at France Inter, a public service radio station, the same people who are now campaigning against the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune are not offended. Logical, one might reply: these good souls tend to lean to port! But that's forgetting that they should ignore it. And that the impartiality of the public media - or at least the balance in their editorial teams and management teams - is a real political issue, unlike what's going on in the private media.

In France, public radio and television are always biased in the same direction, and citizens who feel on the same side don't find this shocking: it shows the profound ineptitude of their worldview. And it's not just a French affair: the same phenomenon can be observed in French-speaking Switzerland.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

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