European Federation of Journalists

European Federation of Journalists

France: “No media should be a scapegoat” appeal


French journalists ‘safety is being increasingly threatened amid tensions covering the Gilet Jaunes (Yellow Vests) demonstrations across France.
From insults and menaces to physical injuries, journalists are under attack from both demonstrators and the police. Publishers face the threat of their newspapers being blocked. Invectives on social media are on the rise. Amid a climate of defiance towards the media, anti-media rhetoric is commonplace in French society. The French media industry addressed these concerns publicly in an open letter in French newspapers on 15 January 2019 which was co-signed by the European Federation of Journalist (EFJ) together with its French members.

“No amount of disagreement with a headline, an image, an article, can justify the acts of violence we’ve encountered these past weeks,” says the open letter. The media aren’t a menace to democracy but one of its pillars and, as such, its work shouldn’t be hindered but supported in the interest of the public’s right to information.

Signatories :

  • Les Sociétés de journalistes (SDJ), Sociétés de rédacteurs (SDR) ou Société civile des journalistes de : l’AFP, Challenges, La Tribune, Le Figaro, Le JDD, Le Monde, Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France, Le Point, Les Echos, L’Express, Libération, L’Obs, Paris Match, Premières lignes, Télérama, Sud-Ouest, 20 Minutes, M6, France Info, Franceinfo.fr, France Inter, Europe 1, Radio France, RFI, RTL, BFMTV, Cnews, Franceinfo TV, France 2, France 3, France 24, LCP, TF1;
  • Reporters sans frontières (RSF);
  • L’Association des journalistes de l’information sociale (Ajis), l’Association des journalistes parlementaires (AJP), l’Association des journalistes médias (AJM), l’Association de la presse judiciaire (APJ), l’Association de la presse présidentielle (APP), le collectif Informer n’est pas un délit;
  • Le Syndicat national des journalistes (SNJ), le Syndicat national des journalistes CGT (SNJ-CGT), la CFDT-journalistes;
  • La Fédération Européenne des Journalistes.

Photo credit: Thierry Zoccolan / AFP