Between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the media, the cloth burns… again. The sequence opened with the searches conducted at home or at the headquarters of the party of the leader of France insubordinate (BIA) has degenerated, at the end of the week, in a confrontation with the press. The conflict between Mr. Mélenchon and the journalists are not new, but a new threshold has been crossed since a few days.
on Monday 22 October, the legal division of Radio France had to qualify the grounds for the complaint that the company wants to file against the mp, to explain to the World Vincent Giret, the director of Franceinfo.
For its part, after having required the cancellation of the searches took place, as well as the restitution of property, and files taken away by the police, Mr. Mélenchon was asked Saturday to its lawyers to file a complaint against Mediapart for ” violation of the secrecy of the investigation “, according to Manuel Bompard, the director of campaigns of the BIA.
The rise of voltage with Franceinfo is born of the publication, on Friday morning, an investigation on suspicions of over-billing of services during the presidential campaign of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, particularly for the benefit of Mediascop, the company of Sophia Chikirou, who was his communications advisor. In response, the former candidate has called on its supporters to counter-attack by targeting the journalists from Franceinfo :
” Rot wherever you can. (…) It must be that at the end there are thousands of people who say they are “journalists from Franceinfo are liars, cheaters”, “-t-he notably said, in a video released on Facebook, calling them as ” assholes “. In a blog published Sunday, the deputy of the Bouches-du-Rhône has asked for ” a public debate is inconsistent with our diffamateurs Radio France on a string as the BFM that does not belong to the government “.
” there are people who act deliberately against us with false information as to make us believe that we can put online a video in ten minutes, insists Ugo Bernalicis, member of parliament for North, in reference to the suspicion of over-billing of the benefits of publishing on the Web of the speech of Mr. Mélenchon. “We did not want this escalation, but we will not let these lies without any reaction,” says Mr Bompard.
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“Hypocrisy”
“By choosing the invective, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has chosen to place it on the ground from rotting,” said in response the union SNJ-CGT de Radio France. “If tomorrow a journalist of Radio France was physically attacked by a person inhabited a “hate fair and healthy” and that would have misinterpreted your call for “rot,” “morons”, what would your reaction be ? “, has asked the society of journalists of Radio France. On Twitter, some journalists have relayed, in solidarity, the hashtag #jesuisunabruti.
In the aftermath, a second altercation broke out when Mediapart published on Friday evening, an article detailing ” the first discoveries of searches Mélenchon “. The site claims that “more than 12 000 euros in cash” have been discovered ” in the home of one of the oldest relatives of the leader rebellious “, but, more importantly, it states that Sophia Chikirou was “present” in the morning of the search warrant at the home of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “The patron saint of France insubordinate and the communicating have in reality long-standing, according to our information, a relationship extraprofessionnelle,” writes Mediapart.
Fabrice Arfi, the co-author of the article, admits that evoke such a relationship is “delicate” because it is part of the private life, but he “assumes” he wanted to ” blow the lock of a hypocrisy “. For the journalist of Mediapart, clarify the relationship between Mr. Mélenchon and Mrs. Chikirou is relevant ” upstream, because Mr. Mélenchon said the only decision-maker, and downstream, because if we were to discover that this money is a problem, it would be likely to be concerned “. Other media outlets have not chosen to put forward this element. “It does not seem obvious that trace the possible personal relationship between Ms. Chikirou and Mr. Mélenchon is necessary “, writes, for example, Celine Pigalle, director of the editorial BFM-TV.
also Read : The justice is always interested in the accounts of campaign of Jean-Luc Mélenchon
“Hatred of the counter-powers”
In a new video, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has called Mediapart of “cloth ” and” dispensary of the police and judges “. He denounced the “misogyny” against Sophia Chikirou, providing : “She is not my girlfriend and she is not suspected of personal enrichment. “The deputy leaders and BIA have even called it their “friends” to unsubscribe to the online media. “It is not tolerable that the minutes of the search can be found in the press with elements on the intimate life of the people. It is the manifestation of a desire to harm “, maintains Mr. Bompard.
In a new video, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has called “Mediapart” of “cloth ” and” dispensary of the police and judges “
the leader of France insubordinate, the “war of movement” that we must wage against the “caste” and the “party in the media” is not new. “The confrontation with the journalists, in 2012, it was thought, organized, and theorized. I put in the work “the sound and the fury” : it was 3 %, this was our only chance to exist, ” explained to the World Sophia Chikirou in may 2017.
This strategy is it effective long term ? “We must not fall into the trap of Mr. Mélenchon. And continue to follow these subjects normally, without hystériser the debate, ” said Mr Giret. “The line of defence of Mr Mélenchon has its limits, think Céline Pigalle. When everyone – media, police, justice – is accused of conspiracy, it is a sign. “This goes beyond the application of the manual of guerrilla media “rebellious” : it betrays a hatred of the counter-institutional powers “, argues Mr Arfi.
in The midst of the turmoil, the BIA did block. Only Roger Martelli, historian, and close to the member BIA of Seine-Saint-Denis Clémentine Autain, has questioned this strategy. “Call “the people” to rise up against the media, to chastise or to the “rot,” evokes memories not very glorious, ” he wrote on the website of the magazine Looks. A dissenting voice quite rare at this time among the supporters of The France insubordinate.
press Release companies journalists on the remarks of Jean-Luc Mélenchon to the press
We, companies, journalists,
give our wholehearted support to our colleagues from Radio France and of Mediapart, as well as our sister Véronique Gaurel of France 3.
We condemn in the most firm about outrageous, offensive and threatening of Jean-Luc Mélenchon to the press. These systematic attacks and baseless not to dishonor their author.
The Societies of editors in the World, The Obs, to the Point and Europe 1 as well as the Societies of journalists, M6, L’express, France 2, Le Figaro, Franceinfo.fr, Télérama, Les Echos, Franceinfo TV, First lines, AFP, Libération, TF1, Le Parisien, BFM TV, TV5 Monde, France 3 national, The Sunday Newspaper, RTL, France inter, Radio France, Challenges, Paris Match and RFI.
