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Not a "brand" ... 40 years of Libération on display in a gallery near les Halles, Paris, last October. Photo: David Robie |
Founded by Sartre and Serge July more than four decades ago in the aftermath of the 1968 student riots in Paris, the left-leaning Libération has fallen on hard times.
But the company’s new shareholders came up with a plan to rescue it that has been greeted with derision by staff.
Founded on a non-conformist editorial policy that shunned commercialisation, the paper’s headquarters would be turned into a multimedia cultural centre, with a bar, restaurant, a TV studio and a social network “hub”.
This new proposal followed failed negotiations to put the Libération’s online edition behind a paywall.