The former director of Release and New Observerr explains in a letter his choice to no longer debate in the broadcasts of the info channel of the Canal + group, owned by the Vivendi group.
He regularly intervened in debates on the news channel. Laurent Joffrin a journalist claimed on the left, announced on Friday that he would no longer go to CNews due to the forced reshuffling of the JDD under the leadership of the same shareholder as the chain, the Vivendi group, also the largest shareholder of the Lagardère group.
In a letter titled “Why am I leaving CNews“published Thursday on the site of its media The newspaper, Laurent Joffrin explains his choice. “Throughout my professional life, I have defended and implemented the idea of journalistic and political autonomy for the newsrooms of which I was a member.», recalls the former director of Release and New Observer.
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Within these two newsrooms, the 71-year-old journalist explains that he participated in the creation of charters guaranteeing “balanced processing of information» and to be «submitted five times» during his career with the right of veto of the editorial staff. “All the principles and all the practices that have been brushed aside in the case of the Sunday newspapertriggering the hostility of more than 90% of the editors of the weekly, who carried out the longest strike in its history, without being able to be heard“, continues the journalist, who launched The newspaper in April. “Under these conditions, and for this precise reason, it seems incoherent to me to continue to work in a channel run by the same owner, whose methods I have openly denounced, on several occasions in this letter, JDD”, he says.
THE JDD was rocked by a historic 40-day editorial strike against the appointment at the end of June of Geoffroy Lejeuneformer managing editor of Current Values marked on the far right. Many observers see in the arrival of the journalist the hand of Vincent Bollorea billionaire with a reputation for ultra-conservative opinions.
Vivendi, Vincent Bolloré’s group owning Canal+ and its channels (including CNews and C8), is in the process of absorbing Lagardère, owner of the JDDof Paris Match and Europe 1, after a successful takeover bid.