The head of the international department still needs to convince the editorial staff in an internal vote this week after a contested first choice and in a context of transition for the daily newspaper.
The head of the international department of Liberation, Sonia Delesalle-Stolper, has been proposed as the editor-in-chief to replace Dov Alfon after the failure of Nicolas Barr’s candidacy, the left-wing newspaper announced on Monday in a statement. The journalists of Liberation must now approve this choice in a vote, in accordance with the newspaper’s statutes. It will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, after a “grand oral” presentation by Sonia Delesalle-Stolper to the editorial staff on Tuesday, an internal source told AFP.
“Proposing, for the first time in the history of Liberation, a woman at its helm, who has spent most of her career abroad and dedicated the majority of her work to international matters, is a choice of renewal and openness,” said Denis Olivennes, president of the main shareholder company of Liberation, in a statement. Sonia Delesalle-Stolper has been working at Liberation for seventeen years. She has been heading the international department for five years, after serving as a correspondent in the United Kingdom.
An unexpected announcement: If the journalists of Liberation approve her appointment, she will become the editor-in-chief, publisher, and co-manager of the newspaper. Her name was proposed three weeks after the withdrawal of Nicolas Barr’s candidacy, former leader of Le Figaro and Les Echos, who was Denis Olivennes’ initial choice. Nicolas Barr’s name immediately sparked opposition from journalists at Liberation due to his background in newspapers with a more economically liberal stance. This led him to withdraw his candidacy.
This designation process was set in motion by the surprise announcement on April 8 of Dov Alfon’s departure, who said he wanted to focus on his career as a writer. As the respected head of the editorial staff since 2020, the Franco-Israeli journalist has helped revive Liberation and accelerate its transition to digital.
Amid a widespread crisis in the press, the newspaper is not exempt from economic challenges. According to the media outlet L’Informé, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has bailed out the newspaper four times since 2022, most recently in December with 17 million euros, totaling 59 million. From 2014 to 2020, Liberation was owned by the Altice group, led by billionaire Patrick Drahi, who then transferred it to a fund aimed at ensuring its independence, the “Endowment Fund for an Independent Press” (FDPI).
