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Journalists on the French financial daily Les Echos protested this week against a possible "shocking" and "dangerous" sale of their newspaper to the luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault.
The journalists appealed to their owner, the Pearson group, owner of the Financial Times, not to sell to a large industrial group which might trample their editorial independence.
In a development which mirrors concerns about the future of the FT and the Wall Street Journal, the Les Echos journalists published an open letter to Pearson chief executive Dame Marjorie Scardino.
"A possible sale of the group Les Echos to Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH and owner of our main rival La Tribune, appears dangerous to us," the journalists said.
"We find it incomprehensible and shocking that our parent should choose to sell us to an industrial group on which we write every day. We fear major and regular conflicts of interests. Several French industrial groups, owners of newspapers, have shown how little they cared about editorial independence, whether in the economic or political sphere."
Rumours of a possible sale of Les Echos have emerged at a time of growing concern about the concentration of ownership of the French press in the hands of a few large industrial groups. The journalists' concerns have been deepened by the friendship between the leaders of these groups - including Arnault - with the new President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Talk of a possible sale of Les Echos - the premier French financial daily, with a circulation of some 119,000 - matches suggestions that Pearson might consider selling the FT. The British group is said to want to concentrate on its educational publishing business and has already sold its Recoletos business in Spain, but has always resisted pressure from the City to sell the FT.
However, the company is also considering a bid for Dow Jones, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, as part of a consortium with GE, owner of the business news channel CNBC, and the Bancroft family.
Some analysts believe that combining the FT with the WSJ in a joint venture could pave the way for Pearson to dispose of newspaper interests.
- INDEPENDENT
