Perhaps the biggest surprise was that no one was really surprised that the staff of the fiercely left-wing French daily Liberation accepted an offer by the scion of a capitalist dynasty to purchase a hefty portion of its stock.
The vote, taken on Thursday, was close. But in the end the survival instinct was stronger than ideology, and Edouard de Rothschild, the 47 year-old son of the banker Baron Guy de Rothschild, became the newspaper's largest shareholder.
For 20 million euros (US$26 million), Rothschild acquired 37 percent of Liberation, which was founded in 1973 by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and current publisher Serge July as what one writer has called "a Maoist instruction sheet."
Because it has nurtured and marketed an anti-authoritarian, anti-big business identity, the move to open itself to a capitalist heavyweight like Rothschild is deeply significant for the entire French newspaper industry.
Like almost all French dailies, Liberation has in recent years suffered from competition provided by the Internet, television and free dailies, such as the Swedish-based Metro, which has 42 daily editions in 17 countries, including France.
As a result, Liberation and other major French newspapers have suffered substantial drops in circulation and advertising revenue.
New capital
According to July, the new capital will help the paper lower prices and improve distribution, editorial and online activities.
"We judge these [improvements] indispensable to meeting the challenges of the media Big Bang," July wrote in Liberation last month when announcing the opening of negotiations with Rothschild.
Even though the deal gives Rothschild the chance to increase his share of the paper to 52 percent by 2007, he has accepted a 40 percent ceiling on his voting rights.
Nonetheless, many observers remain troubled.
"On a symbolic level, it's shocking," Pierre Defassieux of the main French journalists' union SNJ told Forbes magazine. "It just shows how difficult it's becoming to sustain an independent press in France."
Rothschild has vowed "not to interfere in the paper's editorial content." But that promise was also made by entrepreneur Serge Dassault after he purchased Socpresse, the company that owns another major French newspaper, Le Figaro, as well as other publications.
Shortly after taking control, Dassault said, "Newspapers should publish healthy ideas. And left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas."
He reportedly also told editors not to publish stories that attacked France's "commercial and industrial interests," and staff claimed that stories about his company, Dassault Aviation, were soon dropped.
Severance payments
As a result, some 10 percent of all Socpresse journalists took advantage of a contractual clause allowing them to resign because of the deal, and Socpresse was forced to pay an estimated 15 million euros (US$19.5 million) in severance payments.
Stunning as it was, the Liberation deal will not be the last -- or biggest -- shock to the French media landscape.
The daily Le Monde, widely considered one of the world's great independent newspapers, is currently in negotiations to have one of the country's most successful conglomerates, the Lagardere group, purchase 15 percent of its stock.
With circulation down some 5 percent over the last two years, Le Monde is seeking a 50 million euro infusion to help cover debts of up to 130 million euros.
When the deal with Lagardere is finally announced, perhaps later this month, France's entire media landscape will have been transformed.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique