“We are awaiting guarantees from the management of La Provence on the independence of the editorial staff.”
Several dozen journalists gathered this Monday, March 25 in front of the daily
La Provence
in Marseille to demand guarantees on their independence after a crisis triggered by a front page on Emmanuel Macron's visit deemed
“ambiguous”
by the management.
This gathering was maintained despite the reinstatement of the editorial director, Aurélien Viers, laid off on Friday for this front page, a measure which led to a journalists' strike.
The regional newspaper is owned by the shipowner CMA CGM, owned by billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, based in Marseille.
Faced with a journalists' strike since Friday, the management decided on Sunday to reinstate Aurélien Viers, who had been laid off following the front page of the daily on Thursday, crossed out with the title
"He (Emmanuel Macron, Editor's note) has left and we are is still there..."
.
The management considered that this sentence, attributed on the inside pages to an inhabitant of an impoverished city of Marseille where the Head of State had gone on Tuesday for an operation against drug trafficking, could give the impression that the newspaper gave voice to traffickers.
Aurélien Viers wants to reassure his editorial team
Aurélien Viers was present in front of the newspaper on Monday.
“I obtained sufficiently strong guarantees on Sunday to come back to work and tell myself that I could work with the editorial staff in complete editorial independence, without pressure
,” he declared.
Concerning the front page he explained:
“There was an error in writing a quote without knowing who the author is, there is an ambiguity (...) so I think we can recognize that.
It doesn't matter, we make 364 front pages a year, there may be mistakes made
.
“Our news is not amateur work”
,
“press freedom on the verge of death”
or even
“We cross-check the news, don’t cut off heads”
, could we read on signs held up during the rally.
Sylvain Pignol, elected SNJ to the CSE, explained that the trade union organizations of La Provence were demanding
“the publication of a text to our readers, signed by the editorial staff, which explains the reasons for our movement and which affirms that it does not There was no mistake
. ”
It is also necessary
to “strengthen”
the charter of independence and ethics,
“in particular with a system which should make it possible not to decide to lay off the editorial director without any discussion, without any consultation”
, demanded Sylvain Pignol .
A general assembly on Monday afternoon should make it possible to decide whether or not to continue the journalists' strike.