The microcosm of the French press has been in the grip of a violent storm for several days now. It all started with the dismissal of Geoffroy Lejeune, the young conservative editor-in-chief of the weekly Valeurs Actuelles, at the request of the magazine’s main shareholder. The announcement that he would be appointed as the head of the mass-circulation newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche provoked the anger of a large section of the left-wing journalistic caste, who vociferated and howled at the ‘extreme right-wingisation’ of the media, in defiance of pluralism and the most basic freedom of opinion.
On June 5th, at the end of a battle that had been going on for many months, the young Geoffroy Lejeune, reputedly close to Marion Maréchal and Éric Zemmour and editor of the right-wing weekly Valeurs Actuelles, was sacked at the instigation of Iskandar Safa, the main shareholder in the Valmonde press group that owns the magazine.
It was a personal conflict, but also a conflict of opinion: since the presidential election campaign, Safa had been criticising Lejeune for having been a little too open about his Zemmourist leanings. A few months ago, Safa had already made known his desire to redirect the paper’s line, which was too nationalist for his state, towards a softer content—classical centre-right attached to entrepreneurial freedom—but he had to give up in the face of a strong mobilisation of Valeurs Actuelles‘ readership, which was attached to its conservative line. Safa’s second offensive eventually bore fruit, and led to Lejeune’s departure, taking with him some of the magazine’s most emblematic writers, such as young journalist Charlotte d’Ornellas, a columnist on CNews, and editorialist Gilles-William Goldnadel, who made it known that they had no intention of working with a new team.
When Lejeune’s dismissal became known, the left-wing press could not help but congratulate itself on the removal of a man with “sulphurous” ideas and was careful not to express the slightest sympathy for the unceremonious expulsion of a journalist thrown out of his job by the sole will of the man with the money. It was a fine speech for a man of the Left, but Lejeune was clearly not a good victim.
On the Right, the long-standing readers of Valeurs Actuelles were worried about a possible change in the paper’s line, which was once again in the news with Lejeune’s departure. As soon as his successor was appointed, his former collaborator, Tugdual Denis, put all his energy into reassuring subscribers about the future of Valeurs Actuelles: the conservative line would be preserved, as evidenced by a magnificent front page paying tribute to the success of the latest Chartres pilgrimage.
Young Geoffroy Lejeune would not be unemployed for long. On Thursday, June 22nd, the newspaper Le Monde dropped an explosive piece of news, which was quickly confirmed: the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune as head of the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.
Le Journal du Dimanche, also known as the ‘JDD,’ is one of the most influential newspapers in the French media landscape. As its name suggests, it appears every Sunday and is famous for publishing interviews with the leading figures in French politics. Its columns are often used to announce candidacies and changes in government policy; in a way, it sets the pace for the major moments in political life and often acts as a sounding board for the powers that be—so much so that its detractors have described it as a ‘Pravda,’ given the unfiltered way in which it has sometimes relayed government propaganda, particularly under Emmanuel Macron’s terms in office. It’s hard to imagine a greater contrast with the media outlet where Geoffroy Lejeune used to serve.
The JDD belongs to the Lagardère Média press group, whose main shareholder is now billionaire Vincent Bolloré. Described as ‘ultra-conservative’ by the left-wing press, Vincent Bolloré has become the bête noire of French political correctness. He already owns the news channel CNews and the radio station Europe 1, both of which are guilty of daring to inject a tiny dose of pluralism into the ultra-locked French media landscape. As far as the Left is concerned, Vincent Bolloré has it all: “the great beast of French capitalism, a traditionalist Catholic, a reactionary right-winger and a self-proclaimed Breton” are the titles of glory bestowed on him by the left-wing daily Libération. By choosing to put Geoffroy Lejeune in charge of the JDD, Bolloré is obviously only making matters worse for himself.
Since the news broke, the whole infinitely small world of media self-righteousness has been in turmoil. Public and private reactions have been pouring in, verging on collective hysteria. With this appointment, we are witnessing first-hand the ‘extreme right-wingisation’ of the media, the ‘fascisation’ of minds that needs to be put to an end as quickly as possible.
A gigantic witch-hunt is unfolding before our astonished eyes. Vianney, a nice and kind singer for well-bred teenage girls, has been pilloried on social media for being “a friend of Geoffroy Lejeune.” The Minister for Culture, Rima Abdu Malak, sent out a frightening tweet in which she half-heartedly called for the re-establishment of a Ministry of Information—which was abolished in 1974. While pointing out that Bolloré does as he pleases with the newspapers he owns—which is fortunate—she is concerned about the attack on the famous ‘republican values’ of a Zhdanovian appearance.
The journalists working for the JDD until now have gone on strike, simply refusing to work with Geoffroy Lejeune. The strike has been renewed.
In the authorised newspapers (i.e., most of the major press titles, excluding Valeurs Actuelles), one petition followed another, with a veritable parade of left-wing personalities, or media personalities, which often amounts to the same thing. A whole ruling caste is on the march, and within the space of a few days, it has formed a sort of spontaneous MiniTrue, charged with ensuring that no one commits a thought crime. They include, in no particular order, Anne Hidalgo, of course; the general secretary of the CGT union; rapper Joey Starr; and former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. The debate even reached the National Assembly, where MPs from the Left and Centre in turn voiced their alarm at the danger to democracy posed by Geoffroy Lejeune’s arrival at Le Journal du Dimanche.
The scale of the storm, or even the tsunami, is staggering to any observer with a modicum of composure and rationality. The cohort of these censors from the Left disguises a clear denial of pluralism and freedom of expression under the supposedly flattering terms of democracy and republican values. They have had a near-total monopoly of the mass-circulation press for several decades and can’t stand a dog coming along to disturb their well-ordered game of skittles, as the French expression goes. Eloquent diagrams are circulating on Twitter, reminding us exactly where the balance of power stands in the French media: we are a long, long way from a general ‘fascisation’ of the press. But the camp of the ‘good’ has long since gotten into the habit of confusing ‘progressive bias’ with ‘impartiality,’ ‘political correctness’ and ‘journalistic neutrality.’ A few years ago, the left-wing journalist Nicolas Demorand left the editorial staff of Libération to head the public radio station France Inter—no protests greeted his appointment. Between people in good company, this posed no problem, and impartiality was surely guaranteed at the time.
The progressive Left can see that absolute control of media discourse is no longer possible, and that is unbearable. The beast is wounded, but it knows how to defend itself and has no intention of giving up—even if it is completely at odds with the state of opinion. All you have to do is take a stroll through Twitter or the forums of the major newspapers to see that the average person, on the whole, is delighted to feel the stranglehold loosening a little, with the arrival on the media market of a newspaper that will offer … something else.
In the meantime, the tug of war continues. Arnaud Lagardère, personally responsible for Lejeune’s appointment, explained in an interview with Le Figaro on Monday, June 26th that Lejeune’s nomination was well and truly a done deal and that he had no intention of going back on his decision. The strikers are also sticking to their guns. Who will have the last word?
