France: Matin Plus frontpage dictated by owner’s interests?

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on October 30, 2007 at 1:37 PM

The French National Syndicate of Journalists (SNJ) issued a concerned statement after the freesheet Matin Plus featured on its front page a story about the visit of Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya. Why?

The news of the visit received little coverage by other mainstream media, so it’s somewhat surprising that Matin Plus chose to devote its front page to the story on Oct. 26.

Matin Plus is jointly owned by the Bolloré group (70%) and Le Monde (30%).

“One will notice that the Bolloré group has numerous interests in Africa, including in Cameroon,” said the SNJ in a press release.

The freesheet “emphasized an event that is far from being major and coincidentally is linked to economic interests” of the Bolloré group, said Dominique Candille, secretary general of the SNJ.

“Journalist syndicates have every reason to want to hurry the resolution of issues of editorial independence,” said the SNJ in its press release.

As of late, there have been several examples of supposed mingling with the editorial independence of French newspapers.

Source: Le Monde through IFRA Executive News Service