According to various informations, the lengthy and painful process of nomination of a publisher for le Monde, starts this week. The number of inside and outside candidates is close to ten. And yet, nobody can tell whether this nomination will put an end to the troubles of the famous newspaper.
In fact, the new publisher will have to face a permanent conflict which could turn into a war of attrition between the owners and the top editorial staff. As no global strategy has been devised by the shareholders, the publisher will be at a loss to fix his role. He will also have to cope with the challenge of finding a solution for the digital branch of the group.
It seems that the owners want to rush to a global system that would solve in a few months all the problems that have been pending for 10 years. I don't think that it is a wise way working. For le Monde, there are priorities: the printing and the digital and 2011 will hardly be long enough to follow succesfully this process.
