As of March 1, 2025, “Marianne” will have a new face. The management of the weekly has in fact been entrusted to Frédéric Taddéï, who succeeds Natacha Polony, at the head of the magazine since 2018. The news was announced Thursday, December 19 via a press release from CMI France, which owns the newspaper. The arrival of the former presenter of “Ce Soir ou Jam” on France Télévisions follows the decision of Natacha Polony to give up the duties of editorial director which she has held since the purchase of the title by Daniel Kretinsky. The journalist will, however, retain a role as editorialist within the magazine.
“Beneath a worldly ‘right-wing anarchist’, Frédéric Taddeï has always despised journalism”
In this same press release, it is also indicated that the Czech billionaire will ultimately remain the owner of the title that he had been seeking to sell since the beginning of 2024, no longer being in phase with the editorial line of “Marianne”. “The group is committed to maintaining with ‘Marianne’ a weekly which defends republican, social and secular values“, nevertheless specifies CMI France, which “will implement a strategic plan aimed at bringing the newspaper back to financial balance and guaranteeing its future”. The chairman of the group’s supervisory board, Denis Olivennes, indicates for his part that the newspaper “will remain faithful to the ‘revolutionary centrism’ of its founder“Jean-François Kahn (co-founder more precisely, with Maurice Szafran).
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If the appointment of Frédéric Taddéï was “approved” by Jean-François Kahn, according to Denis Olivennes, voices are being raised to denounce this choice. Starting with that of Caroline Fourest. The journalist, editorial director of the magazine “Franc-Tireur”, worked at “Marianne” between the end of 2016 and January 2022. She wrote a column entitled “Sans detour”. “This decision saddens me“, she criticizes on X (ex-Twitter). “Under a worldly ‘right-wing anarchist’ appearance, Frédéric Taddeï has always despised journalism. He never embodied, neither closely nor remotely, the ‘Marianne’ spirit, republican and secular“, adds the one who dedicated a blog post to the future director of the weekly in 2018.
“He loves to hand the microphone to conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites“, continues Caroline Fourest, who recalls that Frédéric Taddéï worked “4 ans pour Russia Today“. “His conception of the debate has always been ‘5 minutes for the Jews and 5 minutes for the Nazis’ (without introducing them or calling them mere experts)“, affirms the essayist. If Caroline Fourest believes that the words of the one who hosted “Interdit d’interdiction” on RT France “has its rightful place in the public arena, on the Internet” and that “Elon Musk, this other ‘right-wing anar’, will see to it.”she assures that “appointing Taddéï at the head of a newspaper like ‘Marianne’ is both sad and irresponsible“.
“Sad for the legacy of Jean-François Kahn”
Anne Sinclair
Words which resonated with Anne Sinclair, who shared her colleague’s publication while adding: “Having followed a number of editions of ‘Ce Soir ou Jam’ by Frédéric Taddéï, I absolutely confirm what Caroline Fourest says. The commitment to Russia Today also casts a shadow over who wants to embody independent journalism. Sad for the legacy of Jf Kahn“. A post commented on by editorialist Nicolas Domenach, who writes: “As Caroline Fourest so rightly says, Frédéric Taddéï has never embodied, either directly or indirectly, the spirit of ‘Marianne‘”.
For his part, the main person reacted to his appointment in the CMI France press release and said he had “always been attached to the debate of ideas and the diversity of opinions“. “Joining ‘Marianne’, an institution in the French press, is an honor and a rare opportunity. I will work to defend its independence and enrich its role in public debate“, he assures.
