{"id":519290,"date":"2023-07-23T10:29:12","date_gmt":"2023-07-23T08:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=519290"},"modified":"2026-03-07T18:26:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:26:58","slug":"geoffroy-lejeune-jdd-france-selective-indignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/company\/media\/geoffroy-lejeune-jdd-france-selective-indignation\/","title":{"rendered":"Geoffroy Lejeune's arrival at the head of the JDD: a senseless hoopla"},"content":{"rendered":"

The turmoil caused at the highest levels by the appointment of the ex-boss of Valeurs actuelles<\/em> to the Sunday newspaper<\/em> is selective, misplaced indignation. Small development of point of view I expressed on RTS on July 4<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

One month ago today. On June 23, Geoffroy Lejeune, former editorial director of the conservative weekly Valeurs actuelles<\/em>, was officially appointed head of the Sunday newspaper<\/em> (JDD). Since the rumour of his appointment relayed by Le Monde<\/em> 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 \u00abrefusal to be managed by a man whose ideas are in total contradiction with the values of the newspaper\u00bb, according to a press release issued by the Society of Journalists on June 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strike continues even today, taking it past the one-month mark that had been the duration of the strike by journalists at the iT\u00e9l\u00e9 channel, now CNEWS, when it was bought by billionaire Vincent Bollor\u00e9 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 Lagard\u00e8re, owner of the JDD<\/em>, of Paris Match<\/em> 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 \u00abBollor\u00e9 takeover\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em> to declare that \u00abthe JDD<\/em> cannot become a newspaper serving extreme right-wing ideas\u00bb. The French Minister of Culture herself issued a tweet<\/a> where she expressed alarm about \u00abrepublican values\u00bb. In addition, a cross-party bill to protect the \u00abeditorial freedom of the media\u00bb was presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are they to say what a private media outlet should do?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The point here is not to ask what these Sunday outraged mean by \u00abextreme right\u00bb or \u00abrepublican values\u00bb, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to all the polls, moreover, the French are far more conservative than the British. JDD<\/em> 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<\/em>, Geoffroy Lejeune has been dismissed from Valeurs actuelles<\/em>... 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<\/em> are they not moved by the fact that Valeurs actuelles<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case is even more basic, alas: \u00aball the left has to do is see itself challenged to believe it's under siege\u00bb, as the aptly-named in an interview<\/a> Quebec sociologist Mathieu Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having said that, let's not avoid a fundamental discussion: it would not be good for pluralism if Bollor\u00e9 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 \u00absave\u00bb 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<\/em>? 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<\/em> or work on it. Let them create another title. The press will be all the better for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real issue is public media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The other highly criticizable aspect of this political-media indignation is the umpteenth \u00abdouble standard\u00bb it reveals. When a former co-director of the major left-wing daily Release<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n