Senator, dear Céline Boulay-Espéronnier,
Mr. Senator, dear Eric Gold,
Mayor, dear Danièle Giazzi,
Mr. President of the Varenne Foundation, dear Daniel Pouzadoux,
Presidents,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,
I am very pleased to be with you this evening on the occasion of the awards presented by the Varenne Foundation.
Thank you, Mr. President of the Varenne Foundation, dear Daniel Pouzadoux, for organizing this award.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come together tonight to celebrate the remarkable work of journalists who have distinguished themselves this year, and to pay tribute to a profession whose 49 representatives have paid their life’s sacrifice this year, as Reporters Without Borders told us this morning.
I would like to commend the work of the Varenne Prize juries, who have had the difficult task of nominating the winners of the awards among their colleagues.
This year’s awards are a good illustration of the great diversity of journalistic production.
The diversity of media and writing, first of all.
Radio reports, photographs, articles give to read, to see and to hear the world that surrounds us in its infinite richness.
The diversity of subjects, then, all addressed with the same ambition.
It testifies to the ability of journalists to shed light on the great events of the world’s progress as well as on the silent changes of our intimate life. Their ability to account for the tragedies as well as the exploits and hopes that are emerging around the world.
The diversity of views, finally, focused on a real abounding and increasingly complex. It is the singularity of these views, made up of the right balance between proximity and distance, that defines the irreplaceable value of journalism.
In his duty to inform, the journalist does not impose an unambiguous reading. He describes, deciphers, explains attested facts. And by this, give us an understanding of the world in which we live.
To exercise this noble mission requires an essential condition: to be free in the exercise of one’s profession. Be free regardless of status, permanent, fixed-term or freelance.
The freedom of journalists guarantees the independence and pluralism of our media. It is therefore a pillar of our democracy.
It must be protected and defended at all costs.
This fight has been at the heart of my action for over a year as Minister of Culture. This includes recognition of the neighbouring right of publishers and news agencies to ensure that journalists are paid “appropriately and fairly”.
It also requires restoring the trust between journalists and the French, which everyone knows is now very, and even too, damaged. It is not a question of resolving it.
In the face of the proliferation of infox that instill doubt and are the slow poison of our democracy, we need more than ever to defend quality journalism.
Beyond the central question of the ethics of information to which we are all very attached, it is a question of allowing everyone to better understand the reality of the work of journalists.
I know that media and information literacy is one of the Varenne Foundation’s main areas of action.
I commend the initiatives you are putting in place with the help of your many partners to develop the critical mind of the younger generation.
By valuing journalistic excellence as we are doing tonight, we are demonstrating the essential value of free information to our democracy.
We also recognize the outstanding work of distinguished representatives of their profession and by young journalists of particular promise.
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2019 Varenne Awards.