France: Florence Aubenas wants out of floundering Liberation
French daily Liberation is to lose four of its senior journalists. Florence Aubenas, Jean Hatzfeld, Antoine de Baecque and Dominique Simonnot and resigned recently, and their public statements about the reasons is causing a stir among journalists in the country.
In a letter to Liberation the four journalists demanded the right to a pay-off on the grounds that they no longer accept the editorial direction of the newspaper, 39% of whose capital was purchased by Edouard de Rothschild last year. “I can no longer accept what is happening at the newspaper", declared Mme Aubenas to Agence France Presse. Aubenas is one of the most celebrated journalists of Liberation, and very well known among the public since she was kidnapped last year for five months while reporting from Iraq.
Staff members at Liberation strongly protested against the four journalists’ statements, which implied the paper no longer to be editorially independent. Liberation journalist Olivier Costemalle, said: " Aubenas is a kind of icon. If they want to go, fair enough, but they didn't need to attract so much attention".
Aubenas replied, “I always wanted to finish my life at Liberation, even if the ship foundered. I am leaving because the situation has changed”.
Liberation refused the demand for a pay-off, and the four are now taking legal action.
Source: The Independent
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Thanks for the notice of the study of youth coverage in the San Jose Mercury News, but I should point out that Grade the News did not originate it -- we merely publicized the work of a partner organization. All credit is due to the Youth Media Council (http://www.youthmediacouncil.org). The original story is available in PDF form on their Web site. The direct URL is: http://www.youthmediacouncil.org/pdfs/YMC-SJMercReport05.pdf. Thanks again!