“It seems that the earth of this publishing house is becoming more and more brown”, warn employees

Published on October 16, 2024 at 11:59 a.m.updated on October 16, 2024 at 12:21 p.m.

As revealed by “Le Nouvel Obs” in February, Fayard is preparing to publish the first book by the president of the National Rally. An anonymous collective of current and former employees of this house, a subsidiary of the Hachette Livre group, now controlled by the conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, is alarmed by its shift towards the extreme right.

We, former Fayard employees and departing employees, are faced with a situation of unprecedented gravity, in the face of which we cannot remain silent.

One of our former CEOs spoke with pride of Fayard as a “land of contrasts”a slogan also claimed by the previous management. But today, it seems that the earth of this publishing house is becoming more and more brown. Our role is not to comment on the choices of the shareholder and the current management, but faced with the news that has just broken, we cannot remain silent.

The publication of Jordan Bardella’s book is finally announced, after several months of « suspense »rumors and suspicions which, in part, motivated our decision to leave the house. Because publishing a far-right political leader, which any publishing house worthy of its name has not done for decades, is nothing other than a widening of the Overton window¹. This is why we cannot remain silent.

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We think of our authors, past or contractually engaged, as well as our former and current colleagues, who have no other choice but to stay; who cannot bring themselves to let a historic publishing house slide down such a dangerous slope. It takes merit to fight internally. For them too, we cannot remain silent.

We will not go on brown dirt roads.

◗ ¹ The Overton window designates the set of ideas acceptable to public opinion. An expansion to the far right has been underway for several years.