Geoffroy Lejeune

Lejeune began his career in journalism for Le Point.[10]

He became the political editor of Valeurs actuelles in 2015 and its editor-in-chief in 2016.[10] He became the youngest editor-in-chief in France.[9] As editor, he covered the whole spectrum of right-wing politics, from the far right to the centre right.[9] He also hired several young journalists, with a focus on investigative journalism.[10] In April 2017, he derided Le Monde, France's left-wing newspaper of record, for launching Decodex, a fact-checking app, and he suggested Valeurs actuelles should start fact-checking Le Monde.[11]

In September 2021, he was fined €1500 after Valeurs actuelles was found guilty of hate speech for publishing a seven page fictional story about La France Insoumise politician Danièle Obono in which the magazine depicted Obono as being captured and enslaved in the 18th century.[12]

In June 2023, he was fired from his position at Valeurs actuelles after a conflict with Iskandar Safa, the owner of the magazine, in which Safa accused Lejeune of being politically too far to the right.[13] Over the course of his tenure as editor-in-chief, the number of subscribers to the magazine declined by 10% and the number of visitors to its website decline by half.[14]

In 2023, media group Vivendi, mainly owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, announced that it would be acquiring the weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche and appointing Lejeune as its new editor-in-chief. The appointment proved controversial, with over 400 prominent cultural and political figures signing an open letter opposing his appointment and saying that "the first time since the Liberation of France, a large national media will be run by a far-right personality."[15] Human rights group Reporters Without Borders stated that the appointment would "threaten editorial independence in journalism."[16] In response to Lejeune's appointment, the staff of Le Journal du Dimanche launched a strike, leading to the newspaper missing publication two consecutive weeks for the first time in its history.[17]

Lejeune is the author of a political novel (Une élection ordinaire), published in 2015, in which conservative essayist Éric Zemmour is elected as the President of France.[18][19]