The news editor of the regional daily La Provence in France, Aurelien Viers, has been suspended after a front-page headline criticizing President Emmanuel Macron. The national syndicate of journalists denounced “political pressure”. At a general meeting, 79% of the 163 journalists voted in favor of an indefinite strike, demanding the “immediate reinstatement” of Aurelien Viers, who has been in charge of the newspaper since the beginning of 2023.
French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a major operation to crack down on drug trafficking in the southern port city of Marseille and elsewhere. He said gang violence, which killed dozens of people last year, had made life a torment for residents. After Macron’s visit to Marseille, La Provence Daily published a front-page story showing two men, presumably drug dealers, watching a police patrol. The accompanying headline read:
“He’s gone, but we’re still here in the same hell.”
Based on that editorial, La Provence news editor Aurelien Viers was suspended for not respecting “values and editorial line,” according to Gabriel d’Harcourt, the paper’s editor-in-chief. Management felt that the quote and photo on the front page could appear to “mock state power.”
However, La Provence staffers say there was no problem with the headline that led to Viers’ suspension. It quoted a resident of a poor Marseille neighborhood who was interviewed on the inside page.
“The city found all the means necessary to protect the president during his visit. He’s gone, but we’re still here in the same hell.”
The suspension of Aurelien Viers led to a strike vote at the paper to protest what a union representative called “an unacceptable act of editorial interference” by management.
“The editorial director of La Provence has been fired because today’s front page did not please Emmanuel Macron. Press freedom is being trampled on in France!” journalist N. Dupont-Eignan wrote on X’s website.
Staff at other publications also owned by CGM Medias, which is owned by French-Lebanese billionaire businessman Rodolphe Saadeh, supported the strike.
“The director of the Provence newspaper has just been fired under government pressure for a front-page publication,” wrote Aurelien Viers’ colleague Maria Aït Ouarian.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are concerned that attacks on the freedom of expression of journalists, activists and associations have become more frequent in France in recent months, posing a serious threat to public debate and democracy. The Foundation’s experts are convinced that the importance of ensuring the right to freedom of expression cannot be underestimated, as it is the foundation of democracy and the guarantor of civil liberties.