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Le Monde editor Natalie Nougayrède forced out by staff over ‘Putin-like abuse of power’ Female editors of Le Monde and the New York times spiked in a single day
(about 5 hours later)
The first woman to edit a French national newspaper has resigned after only 14 months at the helm of the highly respected, centre-left daily, Le Monde. Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times newspaper, and Natalie Nougayrède, editor-in-chief of the French title Le Monde, are both leaving their posts, it has emerged. Both were the first women to take the top editorial roles at their respective papers.
Natalie Nougayrède, 56, who had in recent weeks been accused of “authoritarian” and “Putin-like” tendencies, was forced out after journalists revolted against plans to combine the staff of print and online editions. In a surprise announcement, the New York Times said Dean Baquet, 57, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has been managing editor since September 2011, would succeed Ms Abramson immediately, becoming the first African-American executive editor at the paper.
Ms Abramson, 60, said: “I have loved my run at the Times … we successfully blazed trails on the digital frontier and we have come so far in inventing new forms of story-telling.
“Our masthead became half female for the first time and so many great women hold important newsroom positions. Dean has been my partner in all this and he will be a great executive editor.” Mr Baquet said he was “honoured” to take on the role.
Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr thanked Ms Abramson but did not elaborate on why her tenure as editor was ending. “Jill Abramson has my sincere thanks for not just preserving and extending the excellence of our news report during her time as executive editor, but also for inspiring her colleagues to adjust their approach to how we deliver the news,” he said. Ravi Somaiya, a reporter for the newspaper, tweeted that the change was attributed by Mr Sulzberger Jr to “an issue with management in the newsroom.”
Ms Abramson had been appointed to the top job at the Times in September 2011, and Ms Nougayrède was another with a relatively brief tenure, departing after only 14 months at the helm of the highly respected, centre-left French daily, Le Monde.
Ms Nougayrède, 56, who had in recent weeks been accused of “authoritarian” and “Putin-like” tendencies, was forced out after journalists revolted against plans to combine the staff of print and online editions.
In a brief statement, Ms Nougayrède, elected editor by 80 per cent of journalists in March last year but in recent times accused of failing to communicate with the newspaper’s legendarily independent-minded editorial staff, said that she was no longer able to carry out her duties “in all fullness and serenity”.In a brief statement, Ms Nougayrède, elected editor by 80 per cent of journalists in March last year but in recent times accused of failing to communicate with the newspaper’s legendarily independent-minded editorial staff, said that she was no longer able to carry out her duties “in all fullness and serenity”.
“The determination of some members of the Le Monde staff to reduce drastically the prerogatives of the editor is, for me, incompatible with the pursuit of my task,” she said.“The determination of some members of the Le Monde staff to reduce drastically the prerogatives of the editor is, for me, incompatible with the pursuit of my task,” she said.
The departure of Ms Nougayrède is the latest chapter in a series of convulsions in recent years in the ownership and direction of France’s most respected newspaper. Created in 1945 as a non-profit trust controlled by its journalists, Le Monde’s commercial position has been undermined by the rise of the internet. The departure of Ms Nougayrède is the latest chapter in a series of convulsions in France’s most respected newspaper. In 2010, it was forced to sell a controlling stake to three French left-of-centre multi-millionaires, Xavier Niel, Pierre Bergé and Matthieu Pigasse. They forced out the editor, Eric Fottorino, but his popular successor, Erik Izraelewicz, collapsed and died at work in 2012.
In 2010, it was forced to sell a controlling stake to three French left-of-centre multi-millionaires, Xavier Niel, Pierre Bergé and Matthieu Pigasse. They forced out the editor, Eric Fottorino, but his popular successor, Erik Izraelewicz, collapsed and died at work in 2012. Le Monde journalists, who retain the unique right to choose their own boss, surprised the French media world in March last year by replacing him with Ms Nougayrède. Seven senior members of the editorial staff resigned last week, complaining that a “lack of confidence in, and communication with, editorial management prevents us from fulfilling our roles”.
Le Monde journalists, who retain the unique right to choose their own boss, surprised the French media world in March last year by replacing him with Ms Nougayrède, better known as a writer than an editor. Her relations with the editorial staff – and especially staff of the partially independent website Lemonde.fr – have deteriorated in recent weeks. Seven senior members of the editorial staff resigned last week, complaining that a “lack of confidence in, and communication with, editorial management prevents us from fulfilling our roles”. Her departure is reported to have been forced by the triumvirate of chief shareholders.
A couple of days later, Ms Nougayrède fired her two closest assistants in an apparent attempt to save her own job. Her departure is reported to have been forced by the triumvirate of chief shareholders. The civil war within Le Monde centred largely on a plan to merge the staffs of the print and online editions. Up to 60 jobs were to become “internally mobile” between the two versions.
There were also disputed – and allegedly secretive – plans to relaunch the print edition this month, now postponed until September. Plans to create a version of Le Monde which would be accessible by smartphones and tablets were dumped without explanation.
“It has been a terrible crisis of management,” one Le Monde journalist said. “Natalie Nougayrède was elected with a Stalin-like majority but she is now detested by the staff. She doesn’t know how to gain people’s confidence. She doesn’t listen. People talk about a Putin-like abuse of power.”
The circulation of Le Monde – which appears in Paris in the afternoon and in most of France the next morning – remains stable at 320,000 copies a day. The Le Monde website is the most visited news site in the French language. The triumvirate of owners is reported, nonetheless, to be unhappy with the group’s losses, estimated at €2.5m a year.