In the country of strikes, the one they staged for forty days last summer, the employees of Le Journal du Dimanche ( JDD ) was an exceptional case, a political battle in which much more was at stake than the trend a Sunday newspaper. France watched perplexed at a conflict that symbolized resistance to a media discourse that is pushing the electorate towards hard-right and far-right positions.
The new owners of JDD – the Vivendi group, with the tycoon Vincent Bolloré at the helm – finally succeeded in imposing as director Geoffrey Lejeune, a young journalist strongly inclined towards extreme approaches. A large part of the staff chose to leave the newspaper because they knew what was in front of them, a total purge in the editorial office and a spectacular turn in the editorial line.
The rise of the extreme right in France is not a recent phenomenon, but the trend is accelerating and can have very serious consequences for the continent. In the European domino of the ultra boom, the threat of destabilization will be considerable if the French piece also falls.
There are several reasons that explain what is happening: massive and poorly integrated immigration, the colonial legacy, frequent Islamist attacks, physical and cultural insecurity, the impoverishment and precariousness of the lower-middle and working class, and the crisis of traditional governing parties. In the French case, there is also another factor that encourages the penetration of extreme right-wing postulates. The media controlled by Bolloré (with Le Journal du Dimanche, the stations CNews, Canal, Radio Europe 1, the magazines Paris Match, Gala, Capital and others) saturate the audience with messages that reinforce prejudices against immigration and the ‘Islam, exacerbate the feeling of insecurity and anxiety before a supposed endangered future of traditional, Christian France.
Bolloré’s media is very careful not to bet openly on a specific party. The 71-year-old businessman of Breton origin, traditionalist Catholic and close friend of ex-president Sarkozy played different political cards to have good communication channels and preserve his interests. The main objective is to promote certain values, of a nationalist, identitarian and very conservative nature. And it is the circumstance that these principles largely coincide with those defended by the right wing of The Republicans (LR, neo-Gaullist right), the National Regroupment (RN, of Marine Le Pen) and Reconquesta, the party founded by Éric Zemmour.
Bolloré has been compared to Rupert Murdoch in the Anglo-Saxon world. In fact, the continuous news station CNews is playing a role similar to that played by Fox News years ago in the United States when it paved the way to power for Donald Trump. According to Le Monde, which is at the ideological antipodes of Bolloré, this industrialist is “the godfather of an alliance between the right and the extreme right”. In an editorial, the weekly Marianne wrote that “the real danger of Vincent Bolloré’s project is the polarization it imposes on the public debate”.
CNews bet hard, at the time, on Zemmour, but the experiment didn’t work. It was too xenophobic and reactionary. The strategy has evolved. The tycoon observes with interest the case of Giorgia Meloni in Italy, at the head of a coalition of the right and the extreme right, very anti-immigration although at the same time pro-European and with total loyalty to NATO.
Macron and Bolloré have had a difficult relationship in recent years. The accumulation of influence of the businessman on public opinion has not pleased the Elysee at all. The worst nightmare for the president would be to have to hand over power to the extreme right when his second term ends, in 2027, just as Obama had to cede the White House to Trump in 2017.
Le Monde revealed a secret meeting between Macron and Bolloré, in mid-September, to achieve coexistence and avoid mutual damage. The businessman needed the help of the president in Vivendi’s dispute with the European Commission on the legality of the purchase of the Lagardère group. In return, Paris Match would have done a very kind portrait of the first lady, Brigitte Macron, in the November 16 issue (cover and ten inside pages of splendid photos).
It remains to be seen how long the truce will last. The European elections in June will give a measure of the strength of the extreme right, which has a solid advantage according to the polls. Bolloré’s media is already working at full capacity in a great ideological and cultural battle with a goal that goes beyond specific elections and pursues a lasting transformation of the political landscape and dominant values.