Association to Defend the Independence of Agence France-Presse

April 2, 2010 - Statement from the Association to Defend the Independence of AFP:

As we have already noted, the process under way to elect a new CEO for AFP, following the abrupt resignation of Pierre Louette amid the crisis sparked off by the plans to change the agency's statutes, is of the greatest interest to all staff.

For that reason it is to say the least surprising that the "preselection committee" set up by the Board of Governors to vet candidates for the post -- a mechanism that is not mentioned anywhere in the 1957 statutes -- should have chosen to work in such secrecy, and with such disdain for staff, that it has not even bothered to acknowledge reception of certain applications.

The committee, which agreed to include the representative of journalists on the board among its members, has so far revealed only that it has interviewed six candidates, without even saying who they are.

We have learned that of the three candidates who are AFP staffers -- Pierre Feuilly, Denis Hiault and David Sharp -- only Denis Hiault has so far been auditioned. - The two others have received no indication of any possible audition; one of them, David Sharp

Such disdain shown for candidates who at least have the merit of knowing AFP from inside, and who also went to the trouble of informing staff of their plans for AFP if they were to be elected, is unacceptable.

If nothing changes, the image of the future CEO will be tarnished as soon as he is appointed, his name being linked to what is basically a back-room deal.

Such methods do not bode well for the future, whoever the lucky candidate turns out to be. The preselection committee, and thus the board as a whole, is thereby showing its contempt for the elementary rules of democracy, in particular as regards the staff of the company it is supposed to be running.

Association to Defend the Independence of AFP, Friday April 2, 2010