Paris (AFP)

A new era will open for Liberation: Altice France separates from the newspaper to transfer it to a non-profit company, a new device for a daily newspaper in France and supposed to guarantee the independence of the title, whose debts will be paid off.

"This new structure guarantees Liberation its complete editorial, economic and financial independence" and will be "presented to the employee representative bodies," said the group in an email sent internally and consulted by AFP on Thursday.

"The current editorial rights will be fully maintained and guaranteed," adds the text. This new structure triggers the opening of a transfer clause (a device that allows voluntary departures) in the newspaper which has 200 employees.

Concretely, Altice France (also owner of BFMTV, RMC and SFR) will create an "Endowment Fund for an independent press", which will acquire, via a subsidiary (Presse Indépendante SAS) the newspaper, its management and its technological development company.

This device is inspired by that adopted by the Mediapart site in 2019, itself imagined from the unique model in the world of the "Scott Trust", which since the 1930s has protected the British daily newspaper The Guardian.

The Altice group undertakes to "substantially endow this Endowment Fund to allow Liberation to repay all of its debts but also to give it, gradually, the means necessary to finance its future operations and thus guarantee its independence over the long term. term".

Liberation "will thus become the property of a non-transferable and non-capitalist non-profit structure", underlines the media and telecoms group of Patrick Drahi.

The debts of Liberation, which is not a beneficiary unlike Mediapart, are between 45 and 50 million euros, from internal sources.

- Charities -

However, turnover has stabilized and digital subscriptions have increased six-fold in two years. Distribution also increased by 6% in 2019, to 71,466 copies, according to the CMPA.

"It was no longer relevant for Libé to be the only newspaper in the group", which split from L'Express last year (the weekly became the owner's personal property) from Altice France Alain Weill), indicates a source close to AFP.

Patrick Drahi, the founder of Altice "will continue, personally, to support the future of Liberation", adds the courier adding that "any patron may contribute to the Endowment Fund for non-profit purposes and subject to the approval of its board of directors ", and that" no rights will be granted in return for these donations ".

If Liberation generates profits, they will be entirely redistributed to charitable organizations such as the Fondation de France for its support program for Reporters Without Borders, the Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris et Hôpitaux de France and the SFR Foundation for the benefit of access to digital for fragile audiences.

Libé's governance remains unchanged, with two co-managers, who are today Laurent Joffrin (until the end of the year) and Clément Delpirou (until mid-June). The latter's replacement, on departure, has not yet been appointed.

After months of crisis and near-bankruptcy, it was telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi who bailed out the newspaper in 2014, becoming the main shareholder. In the process, Laurent Joffrin returns for the third time to Libé as director of publication and writing, replacing Nicolas Demorand.

A hundred journalists, including several historical signatures, then left the newspaper and a new formula was launched. Libé also leaves its premises in central Paris to join the other Altice media in the south of the capital.

© 2020 AFP