The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its French affiliates SNJ and SNJ-CGT today voiced their concerns about the media situation in France after the closure of the daily newspaper France Soir, and about threats upon several regional titles belonging to the Hersant group (GHM).

“The end of France Soir is a new blow to the pluralism in French media landscape after the recent disappearance of the daily newspaper La Tribune,” declared EFJ President Arne König. “This also means that hundreds of media workers and many journalists will lose their jobs. The recent scandal in the British media around Murdoch shows how dangerous the lack of pluralism in a democratic society is.”

At the same time, the French local press is shaken within the Hersant group. The latter opened up negotiations with the Belgian Rossel group for the sale of its press titles conditioned to a redundancy plan. The unions SNJ and SNJ-CGT have alerted the French President of the Republic François Hollande to this situation in GHM group.

The EFJ demands full transparency in the handling of the situation which endangers hundreds of jobs and threatens pluralism in French media.

The EFJ also calls on the European Commission to guarantee the respect of the Fundamental Rights Charter and its Article 11 on freedom of expression and information and urges countries concerned to ensure this charter is respected.

“We express our full support and solidarity to the journalists and their unions in their struggle for their jobs and the quality of information,” added Arne König.

The EFJ, which is a regional organisation of the International Federation of journalists, represents over 310,000 journalists in over 30 countries.

For more information, contact the EFJ at +32 2 235.2200.