About a hundred French titles and press groups, including Europe 1, jointly sign an open letter in "Charlie Hebdo" to call on the French to support freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
An unprecedented initiative explained in "Culture Médias" Denis Carreaux, editorial director of the Nice-Matin group, and Eric Chol, editorial director of the Express.
The initiative is unprecedented.
In its Wednesday issue,
Charlie Hebdo
publishes "Open letter to our fellow citizens: Together, let's defend freedom".
A text, co-signed by a hundred French titles and press groups, and addressed directly to the French in a context of threats to freedom of expression.
The guests of
Culture Médias
Denis Carreaux (editorial director of the Nice-Matin group) and Eric Chol (editorial director of the Express) explain the reasons for this open letter, of which Europe 1 is a signatory (you can find it here) .
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A new form for a new context
"It has never happened that the media, which often defend divergent points of view and whose manifesto is not the usual form of expression, decide together to address their audiences and their fellow citizens with a so solemn. If we are doing it, it is because it seemed crucial to us to alert you to one of the most fundamental values of our democracy: your freedom of expression. "
The opening lines of this open letter emphasize the novelty of such a widely published manifesto.
An unprecedented dimension that can be explained by the threats hanging over the French media, while the trial of the January 2015 attacks is taking place.
"The form is new because the context is new", summarizes in
Culture Médias
the editorial director of the group
Nice-Matin
Denis Carreaux.
According to him, threats to freedom of expression are "more numerous and more repeated".
"We have an increasingly deleterious climate," he observes, before explaining that his own editorial staff has been seriously threatened twice in the last 10 days.
Denis Carreaux also cites the recent threats against Marika Bret, HRD of
Charlie Hebdo,
the growing violence of social networks, as well as the conspiracy theses which among the yellow vests have led to attacks on journalists.
"This climate frees certain inclinations, with the fear that fear will prevail and arouse the self-censorship of journalists", he worries.
>> Find Culture Médias in replay and podcast here
A call for collective reaction
Eric Chol, editorial director of
L
'Express
, explains that it is in this context that
Charlie Hebdo
wanted to bring together the French media.
"We found ourselves among newspaper directors around Riss [publication director of
Charlie Hebdo
], and we said to ourselves that we absolutely had to send a text to the French," he explains in
Culture Médias. .
"This initiative makes so much sense that it should have been taken earlier."
"It is not a matter of the media", indicates Eric Chol.
"When we question freedom of expression, we question all freedoms."
According to him, the idea of this text is to go beyond a professional sector to "encompass the whole of the national community".