Newspapers: Figaro's Prerogatives

Whoever heard of reporters dictating a newspaper's editorial policy? Or holding veto power over the hiring of an editor-in-chief? Or controlling layout? Such radical conditions prevail at Le Figaro, France's leading conservative newspaper. Its 250 reporters, columnists and sub-editors have long enjoyed these prerogatives under a special agreement with the paper's owners. But now, management wants to reassert its right to manage. To show just how they felt about that idea, Figaro's staff last week staged a one-day strike.

Never in its 102-year history, had Figaro missed an edition. Proper Parisians would no more think of doing without Figaro at...