Speech by the President of the PAM, during the 2016 press greetings, to Prime Minister Manuel Valls
 

Prime Minister,

Dear Sisters, dear Brothers,
 

Last year at the same time, our profession was bereaved by the death of eight of our colleagues in conditions that still seem unimaginable to us today.

We think of them. They live in our collective memory. We are also thinking of their families and of those injured who are still recovering.

The freedom of the press was touched in its essence, in its flesh. We then thought we had experienced the worst.

Unfortunately, we were wrong. We were far below what barbarism could generate. We sadly discovered it on November 13th.

This is why our thoughts also go out to all those who fell during these attacks and to those who are trying today, despite their injuries, to resume the path of life.

Because, before being journalists, we are citizens fully involved in society. We first react as such, and some of us have been hit directly or in those around us.

We had already learned the lessons of January 2015. But this tragedy put us even more before our responsibilities: check before informing, compare opinions to analyze as accurately as possible, question, doubt in order to better enlighten.

I must also recall here that last year 110 of our colleagues fell to accomplish their mission, beyond our borders, and in particular in Syria and Iraq.

But let's come back to France: when our country is threatened, when the foundations of our Republic are shaken, it is normal for us to be one with society.

Without false modesty because it is our freedom that is at stake but without falling into any form of complacency. On the contrary, with increased vigilance.

So yes,  we can hear, Mr. Prime Minister, that the fight against terrorism requires a strengthening of existing systems. You have put your authority and your determination at the service of this objective.

But we also understand those who warn against the excesses of the state of emergency. Because we can experience them ourselves.

We noted with satisfaction that in the revision of the law of 1955, the control of the press had been abolished. But narrowly… Because to our great surprise, parliamentarians from your majority tried to maintain it, subject to conditions of course, but they were already superfluous. Fortunately, this amendment was not adopted.

On the other hand, the bill aimed at strengthening the secrecy of sources is still at a standstill. Even though the President of the Republic had promised that it would be adopted before the end of last year.

In these troubled times, we wish to have as many guarantees as possible on the conditions of exercise of our profession and the protection of sources which is a pillar of our freedom. We therefore hope, since we have the opportunity here, that this reform will finally be adopted!

Just as we want France to make a full commitment to prevent the adoption of a European directive on trade secrets, it is its name, which would lead no more and no less to censorship.

About our working methods,  we were disconcerted to say the least – and we are here in a frank dialogue that you are fond of, so this is the opportunity to tell you -, by your lesson in journalism in the debate on the deprivation of nationality.

When the Keeper of the Seals explained from Algiers that this project was no longer on your government's agenda, we believed him. You then bitterly reproached us for it. And while you yourself had confided your doubts a few days earlier.

So a question arises: would the word of the President and that of the Prime Minister be gold and all the others fake?

This confusion, in any case with your Keeper of the Seals, will not happen again since Christiane Taubira therefore left her post yesterday. To everyone's surprise… The Chevènement case law was finally applied after a period of great uncertainty and despite your attempt to find a modus vivendi with a minister who often challenged you.

So there is a clarification on the line with the arrival at the Ministry of Justice of one of your relatives but not sure that means the end of the mess. “Goodbye left! title this morning one of our colleagues. Goodbye or Farewell? You may tell us…Or will the upcoming redesign give us some clues.

Because on this issue of forfeiture, the unanimity of November 16 before Congress has turned into a cacophony in your ranks. The slingers of your majority who had calmed down a bit have found something to feed their anger. And not just them. Some evoke an irreversible fracture, a schism.

In the end, the gold turned into lead. The climate of national unity, to which you called and for which you personally worked it is true by reaching out to the opposition, only lasted as long as the emotion.

You are mired in a constitutional revision which risks suffocating any other debate, at the very moment when the concern of the French remains unemployment.

On this front, your results are still not conclusive, as yesterday's figures showed once again. And two lines clash within your government: on the one hand those who prefer to move cautiously and those who demand radical reforms.

Among the latter of course, the tempestuous Emmanuel Macron with statements more iconoclastic than each other... but he was punished for it since he will not have the right to a second law.

We also wonder in which category you yourself are now in? however, you are not obliged to hide behind the President of the Republic and therefore to dare less, to transgress less?

Audacity, modernity and voluntarism have undeniably opened the doors of this Maison de Matignon to you… Within a few years, there is a sort of mirror effect between you and Emmanuel Macron.

It is rumored that this competition annoys you but after all if it is a battle to embody renewal, isn't it stimulating and therefore beneficial? And then you said it yourself you “like the castagne”.

The renewal of the political class: this is one of the strong aspirations of the French. The one they tell us about at length in reports.

The distrust that right and left confront is also fueled by a disconnection from the realities on the ground, from everyday concerns. “They no longer hear us”: this is what those we meet also tell us.

It is from all these flaws that the National Front feeds. Since 2012 you have made it a personal, ardent fight that has never been denied even by your critics. But what we will remember from the last regional elections is the establishment of the extreme right and your disappearance in two large regions, one of which was one of your historical strongholds.

So, after three election years, you have a year to breathe. Finally if one can say. Because ultimately the hardest part remains to be done: to try to honor the oft-repeated commitment of the President of the Republic, to reverse the curve of unemployment. Even if it means having recourse, some say, to placebo remedies.

A social emergency, therefore, but also an electoral emergency: it was the Head of State who linked the two… You who like challenges, you have been served. Here's a big one!

Unless, who knows, the cards are reshuffled and François Hollande challenges his legitimacy to represent the left in 2017. And submits to the primaries that some of you are crying out for. After all, you would only respect the rules of the PS… Would it be so unworthy not to be in a permanent conquest of power and to be satisfied with a single mandate?

We cannot say that our political class is lacking in new talent… on the left and on the right. You just have to give them space... And where is it written that you should wait until 2022 rather than 2017? I checked: unless there is a constitutional revision, nothing prevents you from doing so...

Seeing you multiply in our media and in very mainstream programs mixing entertainment and politics where you weren't necessarily expected, we wonder if it doesn't tickle you.

Especially when you look at the polls and the French want everything but replay the 2012 game! The revenge is obviously not up to their expectations.

If we believe in the nobility of politics - sometimes we force ourselves a little but we always end up succeeding - we have no vocation to work for reconciliation between the French and their representatives, their elected officials. This is your responsibility and the choice of ballot boxes will always be the supreme, ultimate barometer of the quality of this relationship.

But we have a duty: it is to serve as a mediator, an interface between them and you. This is why we will have at heart, in this pre-election year, to bring to life the debate of ideas with the greatest possible independence of view.

Without forgetting to tell the scenes of power, firstly because the French are fond of it and, you will recognize it without difficulty, the politicians too but also because the big story is often, in the small one.

  Until then, Prime Minister, we wish you and your government, in the interest of the country, all our sincere and republican wishes for success. And on behalf of the Ministerial Press Association, happy new year to all of you!

 

 

Benjamin Sportouch,

President of the Ministerial Press Association