ON DECRYPT
460 journalists from the editorial staff of the group Le Monde signed Tuesday a platform in the columns of the daily, asking Matthieu Pigasse and Daniel Kretinsky to keep the commitment to preserve the editorial independence of the editorial offices. One of the two majority shareholders of the newspaper, Xavier Niel, agreed to sign a licensing fee on Monday. The journalists are now asking the other majority shareholder, Matthieu Pigasse, but also the Czech businessman Danièle Kretinsky, to whom Matthieu Pigasse has resold close to 50% of his shares in 2018, to sign this right of inspection before the deadline of 18 September.
"Daniel Kretinski has committed in October, via Matthieu Pigasse, to sign a right of approval," recalls the microphone of Philippe Vandel, in Culture Media Europe 1, Luc Borner, the boss of editorial offices of the World . "He has the right not to sign, but he must publicly assume to put himself in very strong opposition to this drafting", he points out. "For the moment, he has not answered this rostrum, it is legitimate, he has been asked to express himself in the columns of the newspaper, and if he wants to express himself in an interview with Le Monde , he will do so. in a very professional way, "he adds.
"We know very well why bosses want to enter the capital of a newspaper"
Fifth Czech fortune, Daniel Kretinsky has been enriched in the field of energy, and has already invested in several other French media, including magazines Marianne , Elle , Ici Paris or Public . "We are not a coal-fired power plant, we do not buy journalists like another company," explains Ariane Chemin, one of the big names in the evening newspaper, also invited by Culture Médias . "We are lucid, we know very well why bosses want to enter the capital of a newspaper: to have respectability, influence, to be received at the Elysée by the President of the Republic .. This gives you a base, relationships, and when you want, like Daniel Kretinsky, to play a role in the French economic landscape, it's useful. "
The editors therefore now want to make sure that they will not be under any pressure, directing their work in one way or another, according to the interests of the businessman. "A writing and a press title are strong if they are independent," insists Luc Bronner. "If we let a shareholder take the hand against our will, we know that behind, potentially, if he does not respect the wording, he can influence the life of this writing."
As a reminder, during the recapitalization of 2010 by the trio Xavier Niel-Pierre Bergé-Matthieu Pigasse, the newspaper had obtained that the editorial teams can vote on their projects, and have a right of scrutiny on the entry of new shareholders. "We simply want, and this is a fundamental battle for us, to maintain this right of scrutiny which is a pillar of our independence," concludes Luc Bronner.