2023-11-20 18:23:44
The surge of hatred in the media space caused by the Israel-Hamas war alone sums up the extent of the crisis in our ecosystem. At the initiative of the Fund for a Free Press, 80 media and organizations, including Mediapart, are calling for mobilization during a public meeting for the general meeting of the independent press organized on November 30 in Paris.
The conflict in the Middle East reminds us in a bloody way to what extent our profession is essential to understanding the world: the blackout in Gaza prevents us from taking stock of the tragedy that is unfolding. After the massacre of Israeli families, brutally murdered even in their homes by Hamas fighters, it is the turn of Palestinians, men, women, children, old people, to die by the thousands under Israeli bombs.
However, since October 7, Palestinian journalists have fallen one after the other alongside their loved ones without anything seeming to be able to stop the infernal cycle of reprisals. The international press, for its part, is barred from accessing the Gaza Strip by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities. To document the scale of the disaster, it is nevertheless essential to let us “enter and see”, according to the injunction of the philosopher Michel Foucault who, in the early 1970s, demanded the right to enter prisons. This is the meaning of the forum recently signed by 33 societies of journalists (SDJ), as well as a large group of journalists and organizations in the profession.
The press is a bulwark against the madness of States and political and military leaders ready to sacrifice civilians and/or their people to carry out their inhumane designs.
In these dark times, the independence of journalists is an absolute necessity. Because a controlled press can only make things worse. In this regard, it is remarkable to observe the quality of the work of the Israeli newspaper Time, which, despite the trauma inflicted on Israelis by Hamas attacks, continues to do its work of investigation and analysis of the abuses of power at Tel Aviv.
Conversely, the French media debate is conspicuous by its nullity. And its dangerousness. On television channels in particular, the arsonists are out. The words of ideologues, provided that they slam and hurt, are put on the same level, or even overvalued, compared to those of competent people who have been patiently documenting for years what is happening.
But this reign of opinions does not come from nowhere. Nor is it inevitable. It is made possible by the catastrophic state of our ecosystem: the concentration of media in the hands of a few billionaires can only lead to these excesses. What matters in the eyes of Bolloré, who is gradually extending his influence over the sector, is not the profitability of his group, even less the right to know, but the development of his influence and the dissemination of xenophobic and racist ideas. . He is waging a cultural battle that is all the more toxic because it reinforces far-right political forces at the gates of power.
In a world without reference points, we do not need invective but information. Our social utility, as journalists, is not to stir up hatred, but, on the contrary, to bring clarity and reason to public debate, to fight against hidden agendas, fake news and instrumentalizations wherever they come from. Facts versus opinions, meaning versus confusion: these are our guides to enable readers to understand the world around them, to find their place in it and to act as citizens. For real trust to be built, the guarantee of information free from any economic and political interference is a prerequisite.
Thoroughly reforming our sector is a priority. At the instigation of Emmanuel Macron, who has continued to distance journalists since 2017, a general information conference was launched on October 3. But, as we have had the opportunity to write, we believe that there is nothing to expect from a big machine which seems to have been designed to get bogged down – objectives that are too broad and vague, insufficiently representative actors and too divergent interests to hope that the principle of independence that we defend at Mediapart will be strengthened.
This is why, at the initiative of the Fund for a Free Press, 80 media and organizations, including Mediapart, have decided to join forces by offering readers an alternative agenda to the presidential offer by organizing general meetings of the independent press.
In our diversity, we share the same conviction that other editorial and professional proposals exist, from the protection of the secrecy of journalists’ sources to the lifting of business secrecy through the fight against SLAPP trials, the legal recognition of journalists’ societies, the right of approval and dismissal of editorial managers by journalists, the fight against media concentration, the reform of the 1986 audiovisual law, the creation of an offense of censorship and the reform of public aid by conditioning it on the independence of the media.
For a general meeting of the independent press
To talk about it, we will meet you on Thursday, November 30, from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., in Paris, at Espace Reuilly in the 12th arrondissement, during a public meeting that we hope will be as mobilizing as possible. We will call to free information from political powers, hate media and billionaires. The program is being refined: be sure to find not only quality debates but also reasons for hope. Because, beyond the dysfunctions of our sector, we will present to you around twenty measures likely to quickly change the situation. You can then relay them each on your own, to your elected officials and your friends.
This event will be broadcast live and in video streaming on Mediapart and other partner media. It will be followed by other public meetings in Strasbourg, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand in particular. We have reason to hope, too, because there are many of us: the network of media that we weave, in its plurality, is dense and inventive. Remote from a press mainstreamwe recognize ourselves in our attachment to our independence from all powers and know that we can count on the commitment of our readers.
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