I was going to do some interviews and put together a story about two major changes at senior management at Le Devoir, but it would be hard to top Le Devoir’s coverage of itself.
For those who don’t know yet, Bernard Descôteaux, whose title is “directeur” but basically meaning publisher, announced last summer he’s retiring after 42 years with the newspaper. That retirement took effect on Saturday. His replacement is Brian Myles, a former Le Devoir journalist and former president of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec.
At the same time, the paper’s editor in chief, Josée Boileau, announced she’s also leaving the paper. Both La Presse and the Journal de Montréal report she was a candidate for the publisher job, suggesting not getting it was a reason for leaving. She would only say that the change at the top makes it a good time for her to go. Her replacement will be Luce Julien, who takes office on Feb. 22.
For more on Descôteaux, Boileau, Myles and Julien, here’s stuff related to them that has appeared in Le Devoir:
- (Aug. 12): Le directeur du Devoir annonce sa retraite — News story about Descôteaux announcing he’s retiring
- (Aug. 13): «Être le directeur du “Devoir” est un privilège» — Descôteaux’s announcement that he’s retiring
- (Jan. 19): Brian Myles à la tête du «Devoir» — News story about Myles’s nomination, with details on the selection process
- (Jan. 19): Same story, with the same headline, but by Presse Canadienne
- (Jan. 30): Bye bye, boss-e! — News director Marie-Andrée Chouinard’s homage to Boileau
- (Jan. 30): Message personnel — Boileau’s goodbye to readers, touching on the state of language, sovereignty and Quebec’s place in the world
- (Feb. 2): Merci Josée, merci «Le Devoir» — A letter from a reader thanking Boileau
- (Feb. 6): Rendre son «Devoir» — Q&A with Descôteaux
- (Feb. 6): Merci, Bernard! — A glowing homage to Descôteaux by Jean Lamarre, chair of Le Devoir’s board
- (Feb. 6): Plaidoyer pour l’avenir — Descôteaux’s final editorial, on the state of the French language, and a thank you to readers
- (Feb. 6): Garnotte’s caricature in honour of Descôteaux
- (Feb 8): Les patrons de presse — Stéphane Baillargeon on media moguls, in which he notes Le Devoir is not controlled by one
- (Feb. 8): Revenons à demain — Jean-François Nadeau’s homage to Descôteaux
- (Feb. 15): Luce Julien nommée rédactrice en chef du Devoir — News story on the announcement of Boileau’s replacement
If other more popular newspapers are having such a hard time, how is this newspaper which doesn’t have a big circulation going to survive?
It’s a good question, because Le Devoir’s future has been threatened before. But it’s also not as big as the other papers. It doesn’t have staff devoted to covering the Canadiens or any other sports team, for example. Limiting expenses can help them survive on less subscription and advertising revenue.
According to Radio-Canada, Le Devoir would have seen a 10 to 15% rise in subscriptions following the end of La Presse paper. For a newspaper that relies strongly on subscription for its income, that means a lot.
While I have some problems with Le Devoir, it is the only decent paper in Québec and probably Canada and one of the only independent newspapers in N America.
I’ve heard that J Boileau left because she wanted to give place to the two new ones, who I have only heard good things about.