Trial of the January 2015 attacks: the media in question
The question of the coverage of the January 2015 attacks was questioned by several witnesses during this fourth week of the trial.
AFP Photos / GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT
Text by: Marine de La Moissonnière Follow
5 mins
The trial of the January 2015 attacks is entering its fourth week.
Last week, the Paris Special Assize Court again heard extremely poignant testimony.
But what stood out was the media frenzy during and after the events.
Publicity
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When the young man comes out of his hiding place, after 8 and a half hours of hell in apnea, and the police finally bring him home, before even being able to hug his loved ones, the first thing he sees on the way down of the vehicle, it is the lamp of a camera and a journalist who asks him questions.
It is for him the beginning of a media hunt that he did not expect.
This stalking, he tries to calm it down by granting an interview to France 2 and RTL.
But the agitation will not subside.
For months, Lilian is harassed by the press.
E-mails, phone calls, questions in the street ... So much so that today, he explains at the helm, his biggest trauma comes from the media frenzy of which he was a victim and of which he still very scared, more than coming to testify before the Assize Court, he admits.
The existence of hidden hostages revealed on the air
The media harassment had started while he was still hostage.
His wife and parents are attacked by the media.
A journalist even called the printing press and came across Chérif Kouachi.
The somewhat unbelievable recording of the conversation was released during the trial last week.
Worse still, some media have revealed the presence of the young man in the printing press, as they will also do for the hostages hidden in a cold room of the Hyper Cacher.
So obviously, the risk was that they would be discovered, and perhaps killed, if Amedy Coulibaly or the Kouachi brothers had watched television or listened to the radio.
“
I hope the media have learned the lesson,
” sighs Lilian at the helm.
“
It's my life, my story.
They want to tear a word from you as you try to rebuild yourself.
People's lives are not a scoop,
”he insists.
He no longer wants us to give his name or show pictures of him.
He wants to regain his anonymity to turn the page.
Witnesses demand anonymity
Laurent, the maintenance agent who tried to disarm Amedy Coulibaly in Montrouge on January 8, also wants us to stop talking about him.
"
Why use someone's last name in a bombing story
?"
People don't give a damn what my name is,
”he laments in front of the court.
"
Ah really the media, I do not thank them at all for having thrown my place of work, my name
", he continues.
The man says he was harassed by televisions and newspapers: “
I even had journalists who pretended to be police inspectors to get information.
There are certain practices which are not very pretty in this profession,
”he insists, before asking the media in general to pay attention in the future.
Recurring criticisms since the start of the trial
Since the start of the trial, the media have been singled out in numerous testimonies.
Another very strong example which, like all the others, invites us journalists to reflect on the family of Ahmed Merabet, whose assassination by the Kouachi brothers just after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, was filmed by a local resident .
These terrible images were broadcast by television channels and continue to be broadcast regularly, which rekindles the pain of those close to the police officer.
“
We're trying to move forward.
But every year at the same time, it's the same thing
: we watch this video again and we hear his voice.
It's inhuman,
”said one of her sisters at the helm.
“
I am very angry with whoever shared this video on social media.
I also blame the media.
"And to implore:"
That we stop showing my brother being assassinated.
May he rest in peace.
"
►Also read: The challenges of the trial of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris
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