France: Pearson to protect Les Echos’ jobs, editorial independence

Posted by Mica Swyers on July 24, 2007 at 2:28 PM

On July 23, Pearson announced measures to protect jobs and editorial independence at the French financial paper Les Echos, should it be sold to luxury good producer, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey.

According to Pearson, there will be no redundancies at Les Echos for three years, and the terms of existing collective agreements will hold for at least five years.

To protect the editorial independence, Pearson has plans to establish an 11-member board, including independent members and the Editor-in-Chief, to supervise the paper. Like Rupert Murdoch and Dow Jones Co., LMVH and Pearson would also establish “a high level framework for the protection of editorial quality and independence” in the event of a sale.

Pearson and LMVH are currently in exclusive negotiations over the sale of Les Echos, which has raised concerns that chief executive Bernard Arnault would use the paper to further his business interests. The staff at Les Echos has gone on strike three times in a month to protest the talks, and many journalists favor a €245 million rival bid from Fimalac.

Source: Media Guardian