“We always believed that we would get through Bolloré, that he was not going to damage Match”, laments to AFP a pen of the magazine wishing to remain anonymous.
But for some time now, the grip of the Breton billionaire, who has gradually taken control of Lagardère via Vivendi (Canal, CNews), is no longer in doubt, according to her.
Evidenced by the arrival of Laurence Ferrari unveiled by Strategies and Days, confirmed to AFP by an internal source.
The ex-star of the TF1 JT, presenter of “Punchline” on CNews and Europe 1, must replace Bruno Jeudy. The news, politics and economics editor-in-chief was fired in August, officially by mutual agreement, unofficially because of his repeated “criticisms” against the “interference” of Lagardère management in editorial choices.
Also a columnist at BFMTV, Bruno Jeudy had denounced the absence of a dedicated to Emmanuel Macron the day after his re-election and the coverage dedicated to the ultra-conservative cardinal Robert Sarah.
Vivendi “in no way intervenes in the strategic, financial and even less editorial management of the group”, replied the president of Lagardère News, Constance Benqué, in a message to the society of journalists from Paris Match.
She “renews” her confidence in the tandem at the head of the newspaper – Patrick Mahé and Caroline Mangez, who have not responded to AFP – since the ousting in October 2021 of the director of Paris Match and the JDD, Hervé Gattegno .
“Whatever the reasons”, the departure of Bruno Jeudy, “big work force” in an editorial office “relatively to the bone”, was “a real blow”, explains a journalist.
And if Laurence Ferrari “looks friendly”, she is “Vincent Bolloré’s transmission belt”, believes the first source interviewed.
– Heads roll –
Another cause for concern is the non-publication this summer of an article on the former LR presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse, who spoke for the first time about her defeat, but was withdrawn the evening of the closure.
In question, some suspect, a passage on Nicolas Sarkozy, who did not support the candidate and joined the Lagardère board of directors at the end of June 2021.
In the Journal du Dimanche too, a scoop remained in the drawers: the refusal of the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, to participate in the national council for the refoundation of Emmanuel Macron, finally revealed by Le Figaro. And the climate remains complicated, a few months after the unexplained departure of another senior newspaper official, Cyril Petit.
Even at Europe 1, emptied of its historic writing, heads continue to fall: weekend morning worker Thierry Dagiral left the station at the start of the school year, officially “by mutual agreement”. Unofficially for having questioned the relevance of a co-broadcast of his morning show with CNews, according to the Days.
“Either you open it and you break, or you close it and it goes very well”, summarizes to AFP a former voice of the station.
At Paris Match, “we are not going to let it go”, promises the first source questioned, a general meeting being scheduled for Tuesday after an editorial conference with the management.
“Even if we know that when it starts, it’s inevitable, it’s screwed up,” adds the same source, recalling the waves of departures from i-TV or the Canal sports department.
“They are in the process of putting in place all the conditions for us to jump on the assignment clause” which allows journalists to leave a title with compensation, once Vivendi’s takeover bid for Lagardère will be validated by the European Commission. “Bolloré wins when we are all gone”.
