The Societies of Journalists (SDJ) and Societies of Editors (SDR) signatories of this text denounce with the greatest firmness the government initiative consisting in reproducing, on an official site of the Republic (www.gouvernement.fr), an anthology of reliable stamped articles dedicated to Covid-19.
The French press is independent of the state and political power. It must even exercise, in its plurality and under the critical eye of its readers, listeners and viewers, its role of counter-power. Journalists are, as the European Court of Human Rights points out, the "watchdogs of democracy" .
By distinguishing a particular article on its site, the government gives the impression, in a mixture of harmful genres, of labeling the production of certain media. According to this same logic, the others would not be worthy of a imprimatur that the State does not however have any legitimacy to deliver in a country where freedom of the press is a fundamental freedom.
In doing so, the current government once again demonstrates the distrust it nurtures towards a free and plural press. The SDJ and SDR signatories of this text therefore request that this section of the site www.gouvernement.fr be deleted without delay.
Signatories: SDJ and SDR of Arrête sur Images, BFMTV, Courrier international , Les Échos , Europe 1, Le Figaro , France 2, France 3 National, France Info, franceinfo.fr, France Inter, Le JDD , Liberation , M6, Marianne , Mediapart, LCP, Le Monde , L'Obs , Le Parisien , Paris Match , Le Point , Front Lines, RFI, RMC, RTL, Sud Ouest , Télérama , La Tribune , TV5 Monde, 20 Minutes , and the staff company of Humanity .