The editorial head of the daily La Provence (CMA CGM group), laid off on Friday due to a headline on Emmanuel Macron's visit to Marseille deemed
"ambiguous"
by the newspaper's management, will return to his duties on Monday, announced the latter on Sunday.
“The management of
La Provence
is pleased to announce an agreement with Aurélien Viers, editorial director”
whose
“withdrawal of the layoff (...) was decided after a working meeting with Gabriel d'Harcourt, general director”
, specifies the title in a press release.
The journalists of the regional daily, who had denounced
“inadmissible editorial interference”
, have been on strike since Friday and were supported by other colleagues including those from other titles owned by Franco-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saadé.
However, they are maintaining a rally planned for Monday morning in front of the newspaper's headquarters in Marseille because
"many questions remain
," an elected official from the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) told AFP in La Provence.
“We recall that the headline cited for the layoff was not problematic,”
he added.
The crisis started with the announcement of the dismissal of Aurélien Viers for the front page of Thursday's regional daily, crossed out with the headline
"He (Emmanuel Macron, editor's note) is gone and we are still here..."
, taking up the words of a resident of the impoverished town of La Castellane, in Marseille, interviewed on the inside page.
The title overlooks a photo showing two people, from behind, watching a police officer pass by on patrol in this city of the second largest city in France, where the President of the Republic came by surprise on Tuesday to announce an
"XXL net square"
operation , which he presented it as
“unprecedented”
against drug trafficking.
This quote
“was repeated on the front page, without being explicitly sourced.
This error in the composition of the front page is problematic, with some readers believing that this quote came from drug traffickers.
She is at the origin of the call to order from the editorial director,”
said the management in its press release, which also apologized to readers for the non-publication of the newspaper on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.