French News Workers Strike Over Tax Break p.19

By: Editorial Staff

NEWS BROADCASTS WERE back to normal, but most major French dailies were missing from newsstands Oct. 16 after a one-day strike by journalists angered by plans to scrap their tax break.
However, the left-leaning Liberation, which protested the deficit-fighting measure in an editorial, published, and the Communists' Humanite ran a shortened 12-page "special edition" focusing on journalists' plight.
The tax break also benefits members of 115 other professions.
The strike did not affect Le Monde, an afternoon paper. But it shut down Le Figaro, Le Parisien, France-Soir, the business dailies La Tribune Desfoss?s and Les Echos, as well as numerous regional newspapers.
On Oct. 15, all-news France Info radio was forced to replace some programs with music. Most television news programs went on as usual, although state-owned France 2 cut its newscast short.
The French news agency Agence France-Presse severely cut back operations, though Le Monde noted the agency ran an urgent story on Madonna giving birth to her daughter in Los Angeles.
The tax break began in 1934 to help journalists who bought their own pens and paper. But Prime Minister Alain Juppe wants to eliminate it as part of an effort to slash France's budget deficit and qualify for a European common currency, set to debut in 1999.
Reporters covering the National Assembly have threatened to boycott lawmakers who vote to repeal the tax break. Parliament's majority leader has said he would sue journalists if they make good on their threat. About 1,000 striking journalists rallied outside the National Assembly as legislators began debate on the 1997 budget.