Much ado about a discount
A storm (in a glass of water?) is raging at the Edipresse monthly magazine Bilan in the French-speaking world.
A storm (in a glass of water?)By Christophe Büchi Bilan editor-in-chief Alain Jeannet is accused by his own editors of having received a watch as a gift from watchmaker Michel Jordi - against all journalistic ethics. However, this turned out to be a false report.
The "Bilan affair," which had been smoldering in the dark for several weeks but only came to public light in the past few days, is a model of how rumors are born. But it is also an example of how unfortunate (non-)communication policies create an information vacuum in which false reports spread more and more.
The starting point: At the behest of his editor-in-chief Alain Jeannet, a Bilan editor goes to watchmaker Michel Jordi to write a story about branding. Among other things, the story is to show how Jordi is realigning his brand, i.e. how he wants to move away from the Ethno Fever concept to a skin-de-gamme-oriented strategy.
The entrepreneur does not like the journalist's critical questions. In any case, he tells him a perfidious story. He recently had dinner with Bilan editor-in-chief Jeannet, says Jordi, and the new Jordi watch caught Jeannet's eye so much that he immediately put it on and hasn't returned it since.
A red warning light begins to flash in the Bilan editor's head: "My editor-in-chief is making a deal!" And on the other hand, the rumor circulated in the editorial office that the editor-in-chief had received a watch as a gift from Jordi and had ordered a Jordi story from his editor in return, so to speak.
In general, Jeannet was "copain-copain" with half of the French business community and lost for critical business journalism. When the critical Jordi story did not appear in the May issue, it was said that Jeannet had censored it. And shortly thereafter, two staff members submitted their resignations to Edipresse publishing director Théo Bouchat, citing an irreconcilable conflict of conscience.
At the beginning only a dry "No Comment" came
The internal dispute at Edipresse was made public at the beginning of June by the SonntagsZeitung in a version obviously inspired by Jeannet's opponents. At Edipresse, however, it was hoped for a long time that the affair could be virtually sat out.
But in the last few days, the "coordination" of the Edipresse editorial offices also intervened in the dispute by declaring its solidarity with the two resignations. This prompted Bilan editor-in-chief Jeannet to come clean via the intranet. In reality, he had not received the Jordi watch as a gift, but had paid the factory price for it. As proof, Jeannet immediately ran a copy of the receipt over the internal ticker.
Jeannet also rejects the accusation that he is uncritical of the economy. It is true that he knows a large part of the French business community - after all, he organized the Forum de Glion for Nouveau Quotidien for many years. But this does not mean that he does not let his editors do their work in absolute independence. In fact, the (critical) Jordi story appeared in the July number of Bilan.
In other words, much ado about almost nothing. But the affair has a history that explains why a mouse could become an elephant. Advertising Week readers will recall that the relaunch of Bilan under Alain Jeannet was preceded by some turmoil. Jeannet's predecessor, Max Mabillard, resigned in a huff and puff, whereupon he was entrusted with the project management for a new monthly magazine at the business newspaper L'Agéfi (he has since thrown in the towel there, too).
Obviously, certain members of the Mabillard crew never accepted the new boss Jeannet. The Jordi watch was merely the needle that burst the bubble of discontent.
The "Bilan affair," which had been smoldering in the dark for several weeks but only came to public light in the past few days, is a model of how rumors are born. But it is also an example of how unfortunate (non-)communication policies create an information vacuum in which false reports spread more and more.
The starting point: At the behest of his editor-in-chief Alain Jeannet, a Bilan editor goes to watchmaker Michel Jordi to write a story about branding. Among other things, the story is to show how Jordi is realigning his brand, i.e. how he wants to move away from the Ethno Fever concept to a skin-de-gamme-oriented strategy.
The entrepreneur does not like the journalist's critical questions. In any case, he tells him a perfidious story. He recently had dinner with Bilan editor-in-chief Jeannet, says Jordi, and the new Jordi watch caught Jeannet's eye so much that he immediately put it on and hasn't returned it since.
A red warning light begins to flash in the Bilan editor's head: "My editor-in-chief is making a deal!" And on the other hand, the rumor circulated in the editorial office that the editor-in-chief had received a watch as a gift from Jordi and had ordered a Jordi story from his editor in return, so to speak.
In general, Jeannet was "copain-copain" with half of the French business community and lost for critical business journalism. When the critical Jordi story did not appear in the May issue, it was said that Jeannet had censored it. And shortly thereafter, two staff members submitted their resignations to Edipresse publishing director Théo Bouchat, citing an irreconcilable conflict of conscience.
At the beginning only a dry "No Comment" came
The internal dispute at Edipresse was made public at the beginning of June by the SonntagsZeitung in a version obviously inspired by Jeannet's opponents. At Edipresse, however, it was hoped for a long time that the affair could be virtually sat out.
But in the last few days, the "coordination" of the Edipresse editorial offices also intervened in the dispute by declaring its solidarity with the two resignations. This prompted Bilan editor-in-chief Jeannet to come clean via the intranet. In reality, he had not received the Jordi watch as a gift, but had paid the factory price for it. As proof, Jeannet immediately ran a copy of the receipt over the internal ticker.
Jeannet also rejects the accusation that he is uncritical of the economy. It is true that he knows a large part of the French business community - after all, he organized the Forum de Glion for Nouveau Quotidien for many years. But this does not mean that he does not let his editors do their work in absolute independence. In fact, the (critical) Jordi story appeared in the July number of Bilan.
In other words, much ado about almost nothing. But the affair has a history that explains why a mouse could become an elephant. Advertising Week readers will recall that the relaunch of Bilan under Alain Jeannet was preceded by some turmoil. Jeannet's predecessor, Max Mabillard, resigned in a huff and puff, whereupon he was entrusted with the project management for a new monthly magazine at the business newspaper L'Agéfi (he has since thrown in the towel there, too).
Obviously, certain members of the Mabillard crew never accepted the new boss Jeannet. The Jordi watch was merely the needle that burst the bubble of discontent.
