Pledging journalistic freedom is all the rage. While Rupert Murdoch and the Dow Jones board have stitched together an agreement to ensure independence for Wall Street Journal journalists, there has been a similar drama going on in Paris. This concerns the future of the business paper Les Echos, which has been put up for sale by Pearson.
According to a Financial Times report, the hopeful buyer, LVMH, the luxury goods group run by Bernard Arnault, has offered concessions to journalists "to protect quality, independence and jobs". The proposals include a journalists' veto over the choice of a new editor and, as Media Guardian reported yesterday, a guarantee that there would be no redundancies at the title for at least three years after a sale.
Les Echos staff representatives described the new proposals as a step forward but journalists and administrative staff still favour a rival bid from Fimalac. It has offered slightly better terms, €245m (£164m) compared to LVMH's €240m (£161m) but Pearson cannot consider it because of exclusivity agreements with LVMH.
Les Echos staff fear a conflict of interest should the paper be owned by one of France's best-known businessmen who currently owns a rival business daily, La Tribune. Its staff have now demanded the same safeguards offered to Les Echos. The principles would create an 11-member supervisory board, including the editor and three independent members, chosen from candidates agreed between LVMH and journalists' representatives. The editor could not be removed without at least two independent members' approval.
And what is happening with Dow Jones anyway? Well, it appears that the controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family, will make their decision on Murdoch's offer "by Friday". Both Christopher Bancroft, who is against the deal, and Michael Elefante, who favours it, said so after leaving a family pow-wow at the Hilton hotel in Boston yesterday. But Bancroft added: "We're still undecided. Everyone has to decide for himself." In other words, it's the same situation that has existed ever since Murdoch first offered $5bn (£2.4bn) in April.
