By Jessica Reed
A relationship with a radio station, a TV show or a newspaper can end up being similar to a longlife friendship; or at least that's how I feel about France Inter, the French radio station, and Liberation, the French newspaper (rough equivalent of the Guardian). Liberation is especially dear to my heart: my favourite literature teacher in high school used to wear socks with its logo on them, and Serge July (its founder, aided by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre) was one of the main figures of the great May 1968 students movement in France (these facts are certainly not connected, but as a teenager they made me like the newspaper even more).
Over the years I grew up with both of those news outlets; they kept me company and helped me make up my mind about current affairs. France Inter's morning political show woke me up during my high school and university years, while Liberation helped me kill hours of boredom. When their content got better, I would be proud to count myself amongst their audience; when a good show got cancelled, I grieved for it.
I am therefore deeply saddened by Liberation's fate: after losing money by being the first to make their entire content available online for free (and having suffered from the emergence of the free dailies in France), they didn't quite recover and had to fire several journalists. Last year members of the staff went on strike when millionaire Edouard de Rothschild invested 20 million euros for a 37% majority shareholding in the newspaper: many feared the newspaper's integrity was endangered, as its critical tone could be easily corrupted.
Liberation's reputation suffered greatly from those accusations, the affair culminating last week when many of its greatest writers (including Florence Aubenas (Time magazine link), the war reporter who was kidnapped and held hostage in Iraq for 5 months) decided to hand in their resignation, voicing their disagreement with the stockholders' views.
Yesterday "Libe" (as its fans call it) issued a very unusual two-page statement explaining their ongoing crisis in detail and pleading for help and support. They openly deplore the "slow and silent disappearance of the independent press".
A sad day for those of us who grew up with the newspaper's passionate editorials, excellent investigative pieces, and 'portraits de derniere page' (an exercise in journalism unique to Liberation).
