Let's make a clean sweep of the past.
Such was, in hollow, the message that Jean-Luc Mélenchon wanted to convey to the journalists gathered this Thursday afternoon in his new Parisian room, rented for the presidential campaign.
"We must be able to re-establish other relations with the press,"
explained the head of LFI from his desk.
The candidate even intends to put an end to the
"relentless war"
waged until then
"against the media system"
.
A first in the rebellious language.
In the past, relations between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the press have often been stormy.
On his blog, the member for Bouches-du-Rhône sometimes does not hesitate to directly target certain journalists.
"We are going to change some of our guns
," he promised Thursday.
Message to Charlie Hebdo
During his speech, Jean-Luc Mélenchon even defended the profession.
He notably denounced
"the social abuse of those who produce information"
, recalling that
"a quarter of journalists are paid freelance"
.
According to him, it is the
“bad social conditions”
which lead to
“a bad exercise of the profession”
and consequently to
“poor quality information”
, even
“false information”
.
"I do not pretend to teach you something about what is your own reality"
, slipped Jean-Luc Mélenchon in front of the journalists.
The leader of the Insoumis also took advantage of these wishes to the press to send a message of reconciliation to
Charlie Hebdo
.
Last summer, the member for Bouches-du-Rhône compared the satirical newspaper to the weekly
Valeurs Actuelles
.
The episode had been seen as a betrayal by
Charlie's
reporters
.
"Because I defend the absolute freedom of expression of Charlie Hebdo, it does not mean that I approve of the drawings, nor the decision to publish them, but it is their decision, it is the freedom and it is not negotiable not as long as it does not violate the law, ”
he insisted.
"Last station before the desert"
The tenor Insoumis also wanted to denounce the decision of social networks to censor the account of US President Donald Trump.
“
The owners of a network were able to become the owner of information.
All of this challenges us.
It is a philosophical question that is put to us
, ”he stressed.
And to affirm:
“We must not recognize any right to private censorship.
Why can an operator make a decision that only a judge can make? ”
, he asked.
Fearing the same phenomenon for his own accounts, Jean-Luc Mélenchon announced that the Insoumis had taken the lead.
"We do not want to fear the interruption, and therefore we have created our social network,"
he recalled, citing the new online platform of LFI "Popular action".
On the political level, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has certified that the presidential election will be the
“last station before the desert”
.
“Don't stop at people and when it comes to me, look at our program instead
,” he insisted, calling on journalists to go beyond
“his character”
.
To get off to a good start with the press, LFI executives even showed their new premises.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon also took the time to talk to some journalists off the microphone.
Among the rebellious, it's almost a revolution.