Le Journal du Dimanche

Le Journal du Dimanche (French pronunciation: [lə ʒuʁnal dy dimɑ̃ʃ]; lit.'Sunday's newspaper'), also known as the JDD [ʒedede] is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France.

Le Journal du Dimanche
TypeWeekly newspaper
FormatLarge tabloid
Owner(s)Hachette Filipacchi Médias
Founder(s)Pierre Lazareff
Founded1948; 76 years ago (1948)
LanguageFrench
HeadquartersParis, France
Circulation151,007 (2020)
Websitelejdd.fr

JDD was bought in 2023 by Vivendi of media mogul Vincent Bolloré, triggering a strike movement against the new editorial stance perceived as far-right.[1]

History and profile

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Le Journal du Dimanche was created by Pierre Lazareff in 1948.[2] He was managing editor of France Soir at that time.[2]

The weekly paper belongs to the Lagardère Group[3] through Hachette Filipacchi Médias.[4] The company is also the publisher of the paper[5] which is based in Paris[4] and which is published on Sundays.

Le Journal du Dimanche was published in broadsheet format until 1999 when it began to be published in the Berliner format.[3] On 6 March 2011 the paper again changed its format to large tabloid format.[3]

In the period of 2001–2002, Le Journal du Dimanche had a circulation of 275,000 copies.[5] In 2010, this had decreased slightly to 257,280 copies,[3] but by 2020, it had dropped to 151,007 copies.[6]

2023 strike after takeover by Vivendi

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On 23 June 2023, days after the takeover of Lagardère group by Vivendi, the appointment of Geoffroy Lejeune as editor-in-chief was announced, just a few days after he had been fired from his position as editorial director of the far-right-wing weekly magazine Valeurs Actuelles. This set off a firestorm among the editorial staff, 93% of whom voted to go on strike on 22 June to protest against this potential arrival,[7] thought to have been engineered by Vincent Bolloré.[1] One month later, negotiations were broken off again when the Lagardère group confirmed that Lejeune would take over editorial control of the newspaper on 1 August. 98% of the journalists voted to continue the longest strike in the newspaper's history. This vote made the strike longer than the 31-day strike at I-Tele when the latter was transformed into CNews[1] after being taken over by Canal+, whose oversight committee is also chaired by Bolloré.[8] The European Commission opened a formal investigation into Vivendi's takeover of Lagardère group on 25 July for potential violation of European Union rules.[9]

On 1 August, journalists voted to abandon the strike after reaching an agreement on severance terms for those intending to leave the newspaper as a result of the change.[10][11]

It was revealed in June 2024 that 95% of the journalists left the newspaper after the change.[12]

Staff

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  • Alain Genestar
  • Jean-Claude Maurice between 1999 and December 2005
  • Jacques Espérandieu (ex-Le Parisien) between December 2005 and May 2008
  • Christian de Villeneuve between May 2008 and February 2010
  • Olivier Jay between March 2010 and December 2011
  • Jérôme Bellay (2011–2016)
  • Hervé Gattegno (2016–2021)
  • Jérôme Bellay (2021–2022)
  • Jérôme Béglé, (January 2022 – June 2023)
  • Geoffroy Lejeune (since June 2023)

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Malgré la grève, Geoffroy Lejeune à la tête de la rédaction du JDD à partir du 1er août". Le Parisien (in French). 24 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Le Journal du Dimanche". Euro Topics. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d "Newspaper Journal du Dimanche: a new format, a new approach". Publicitas. 3 March 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Le Journal du Dimanche". Publicitas. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Top 50 Finance/Business/News magazines worldwide (by circulation)" (PDF). Magazine Organization. Archived from the original (Report) on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Le Journal du Dimanche - ACPM". www.acpm.fr. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  7. ^ Cohen, Claudia (23 June 2023). "Geoffroy Lejeune nommé à la direction de la rédaction du "JDD", Jérôme Béglé prend la tête de "Paris Match"". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  8. ^ Durand, Anne-Aël (4 November 2016). "Un mois de grève à i-Télé : les raisons et l'échec d'un conflit sans précédent depuis 1968". Le Monde (in French).
  9. ^ "Rachat de Lagardère par Vivendi : l'Union européenne a ouvert une enquête visant le groupe de Vincent Bolloré". Le Parisien (in French). 25 July 2023.
  10. ^ "French journalists end 40-day strike as far-right editor takes helm at Sunday paper". France 24 English. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  11. ^ Vulser, Nicole (1 August 2023). "La fin de la grève au " Journal du Dimanche " laisse un goût amer". Le Monde (in French).
  12. ^ Tom-Demars, Granja (22 June 2024). "Un an plus tard, les anciens journalistes du « JDD » maintiennent la flamme". L'Humanité (in French). Archived from the original on 22 June 2024. 95 % des journalistes du JDD – sur une centaine au total – ont par la suite signé une rupture conventionnelle individuelle, mettant fin à un combat soutenu par des ONG, des intellectuels, des forces politiques et des médias.
  • Article on the French Wikipedia.
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