A very symbolic return to
Liberation
: its co-founder and one of its historical figures, Serge July, 80, returns to the left-wing daily as a political columnist, 17 years after leaving it, management announced on Friday.
“
Central figure of French journalism, great observer of the political scene for decades, author of passionate and fascinating biographies, multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker, Serge will write posts in the Editorial page from January 23
”, writes the director of
Libé
, Dov Alfon , in an internal message seen by AFP.
Big mouth, suburban accent, black lock and glasses, July co-founded
Liberation
with the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1973 and embodied it for more than 30 years.
Initially a spokesperson for social struggles, the newspaper became, under the influence of its charismatic director, the decipherer of many social phenomena and the benchmark daily for the left.
He adopts for this a more informative tone and moves away from the leftism of his beginnings.
After the period of glory at the end of the 1980s, when sales were close to 200,000 copies, July was forced to leave
Libé
in June 2006, pushed towards the exit by the reference shareholder at the time, Édouard de Rothschild.
He is accused of having delayed relaunching the newspaper.
"
The conductor that I was says goodbye to you, the journalist too, infinitely sad to no longer be able to write here
, ”he said then in front of his editorial staff.
A figure in the political and media world, July even had her puppet at the Canal+ Guignols in the 90s. She formed a duo with that of another journalist, Philippe Alexandre, who died last October at the age of 90.
In addition, Dov Alfon announces other arrivals at
Libé
, including those of the writer and singer Lola Lafon and the geographer Magali Reghezza-Zitt, now columnists in the Ideas department.
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From 2014 to 2020,
Libé
was under the aegis of the Altice group, owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi, who then transferred it to a fund intended to guarantee its independence, the "
Endowment Fund for an Independent Press
" (FDPI).
In September, Czech tycoon Daniel Kretinsky bailed out
Libé
with 15 million euros to help its return to breakeven expected in 2026. According to the ACPM (Alliance for Press and Media Figures),
Libé
sold 93,000 copies per day over the 2021-2022 period, an increase of 11.14% compared to 2020-2021.
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