Merger mooted for hack school

France's leading journalism school, the Paris-based Centre de formation et perfectionnement des journalistes (CFPJ), is likely to seek a merger with a rival in the northern city of Lille after its board of directors filed for bankruptcy.

The move allowed them to wipe the school's slate clean and simultaneously present a plan for its future on a reformed legal and financial basis. Its money problems stem from a backlog of debts accumulated between 1993 and 1996. Since then, following stringent economies introduced by a new management, the centre has been breaking even.

The most likely way forward for the CFPJ, which was founded in 1946 by Resistance member and newspaper owner Philippe Viannay, is to merge with the Ecole superieure de journalisme de Lille. The new establishment would remain on the two sites and probably specialise in European studies.