“The survival of the media is at stake”according to Sarah Ichou, director of Bondy Blog . Threatened with closure due to a drop in its subsidies, the online media dedicated to working-class neighborhoods and based in Seine-Saint-Denis launched a call for donations at the beginning of December 2024, reports France 3 Paris Île-de-France Thursday December 19.
According to the manager, the situation has become particularly complicated over the past two years. “State subsidies have fallen significantly since the death of Nahel Merzouk in Nanterre” in June 2023, said Helena Berkaoui, editor-in-chief. The media now receives €70,000 in annual aid from the Ministry of Culture, or 130,000 less than in 2022, indicates France 3.
A thousand publications since 2005
Created 19 years ago after the deaths of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré in Clichy-sous-Bois, the Bondy Blog wants to be “the voice of working-class neighborhoods” pour “bear the stories of those who live there”added Helena Berkaoui. It currently employs only three employees, the rest of the team being made up of around thirty volunteer contributors, according to information relayed by our colleagues.
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The media, which has a thousand publications since its launch, also has association status and has participated in the training of hundreds of journalists in France. “Our premises in Bondy serve as a place to write our articles, but also as a meeting place for young people from working-class neighborhoods. We organize conferences and media education sessions, it’s a real place to live”summarized Sarah Ichou, cited by the news channel.
“We refuse to be silenced”
Since 2010, the structure has been in partnership with the Lille Higher School of Journalism (ESJ Lille) in order to contribute to “to change the sociology of newsrooms”recalls its director. According to her, the Bondy Blog is a media that we “wants to silence, but who hasn’t finished telling stories. We are calling for donations, because we refuse to be silenced”she concluded.
