by Andrew Higgins, WSJ.
EFL.
 Serge July, a former Maoist and a veteran of France's 1968 student-led revolt, says he supports France's new generation of rebellious kids. But he says he was "too busy" to join the recent rash of street marches against a new youth job contract. The 63-year-old boss of France's main left-wing newspaper has been battling instead to salvage his own job -- in collaboration with Edouard de Rothschild, banker, horse-racing enthusiast and scion of one of Europe's grandest capitalist dynasties.
"Quelle horreur! Serge has Sold Out To The Man!"
On this peculiar and sometimes-prickly partnership hangs the fate of Libération, a newspaper set up in 1973 by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and a cluster of young radicals, among them Mr. July, dedicated to the utopian dreams of the 1960s. A founding manifesto promised to "depend on the people, not on advertisers or banks."
| You see, it's not people who pay for advertising or invest in banks. It's... ummm... capital. Or maybe Kapital. |
The paper, now a pillar of France's mainstream media, has drifted from its original Maoist moorings and into the orbit of the market forces it once vowed to avoid. Like newspapers the world over, Libération has been hammered by the Internet. Its biggest single shareholder is Mr. Rothschild, a New York-educated MBA who last year invested €20 million, or about $25 million, for a 38% stake.
| He's a scion of the Rothschild family, of course. The brats in the streets would describe him as a plutocrat, and one of a long line of plutocrats. |
But Libération's woes also mirror a broader European predicament: the long struggle of countries such as France, Italy and Germany to reconcile the rebellious ideals of 1968, when students and then workers took to the streets to demand a reordering of society, with free-market capitalism. . . . "Everything that French society is suffering...we are suffering, too," says Mr. July, who has run the paper since 1974. The print media, and France in general, he says, suffer "existential anguish."
| "Not that reordering society didn't work, of course. We just... ummm... still have some tinkering to do." |
 Confronted with mounting losses at Libération, Mr. July in November announced a plan to cut jobs and outsource some of the paper's services. The cost cutting, says Mr. July, was "an ice-cold bath for everyone." The first strike in the paper's history followed.
| But natch. We're discussing La Belle France, after a thorough reordering of society. |
Mr. Rothschild wrote an open letter, saying that he understood the staff's "stupefaction" but warning that cuts were "unfortunately inevitable." The paper's accelerating losses risked eating up his entire investment in a year, he said.
| "I'm a plutocrat, and even I can't afford you! So piss off!" |
Left-wing reporters circulated a petition that blamed Libération's troubles on an editorial line "that flirts too often with 'good sense.' "
| God Gawd! How insulting can they get? |
They called instead for a radical stance of "causes, utopias, desires and provocations."
| "Anything that would work is out. Just drop it." |
After weeks of debate, management surrendered revised the restructuring plan, promising to avoid forced layoffs. Fifty-six people took buyouts. The paper is beefing up its Internet service and preparing to launch an expanded Saturday edition next month. Visits to Libé's Internet site jumped by about 50% during recent student protests, and the paper will soon start charging for certain Web services. Sales of the print edition, however, have barely budged. . . .
"Maudette! I'm going down to the newstand! Do we need any more fishwrap?"
"Non, Jean-Pierre! We still have a half bundle of Libé left!"
"Alas! Poor Libé! Sales of pre-packaged fish have so cut into their circulation!" |
Total losses last year, including costs related to the restructuring, reached about €15 million -- 10 times what the paper had projected at the start of the year.
| Not that that's a side effect of refusing to publish anything that makes any sense, mind you... |
Advertising revenue fell 18%, and daily circulation dipped to about 140,000, well behind conservative Le Figaro and center-left Le Monde, which have also struggled. Libé has had a particularly hard time reaching young readers, once considered its core constituency. . . . |