Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A time of crisis

Yesterday, the unions of groupe Hersant Media staged a demonstration in front of the ministry of Labour and of the Regional Newspapers organization. As I have mentionned in previous blogs, the ailing group should cut 600 jobs in the eastern and southern dailies before a sale to the Belgian group Rossel. At the same moment, Elysee and Matignon are working on a solution for Presstalis that could cost about the same number of jobs. It appears then that the crisis of the press industry will be as lethal as any other social dossier facing Jean Marc Ayrault government.

What are the solutions? First, the government should put in charge a social mediator who would try to help the press organizations to reach a settlement with the unions.

Then , the French press owners, dailies and magazines, should build up a more agressive digital strategy. They just need to look across the borders and watch what Springer or Schibsted are doing. These powerful media groups draw a growing profit from their Internet investments, some of them in France. We certainly could do the same and start right now.