The French Press Lacks a Code of Ethics
Translated from the French by Cadenza Academic Translations
Pages 65 to 78
Cite this article
- GERBAUD, Dominique,
- Gerbaud, Dominique.
- Gerbaud, D.
https://doi.org/10.3917/pouv.147.0065
Cite this article
- Gerbaud, D.
- Gerbaud, Dominique.
- GERBAUD, Dominique,
https://doi.org/10.3917/pouv.147.0065
Notes
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[1]
A tweet by the partner of President Hollande and, to that extent, First Lady, caused an uproar because it was sent during the 2012 legislative electoral campaign in support of Olivier Falorni, a dissident candidate for the Socialist Party and so an opponent of Ségolène Royal, the mother of the President’s children, for the first ward of Charente-Maritime.
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[2]
L’Économie des médias, Que sais-je? (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2011).
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[3]
Interview with the author.
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[4]
Bertrand Verfaillie, Le Tien du mien: Regards sur les conflits d’intérêts dans l’information (Paris: Alliance internationale de journalistes, 2011), 21.
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[5]
Verfaillie, Le Tien du mien, 11.
The French press is an exception in Europe. Its code of ethics relies exclusively on journalists’ individual judgment and is not regulated by a precise code of conduct that would apply to the entire profession. Existing professional charters date back to the early twentieth century, are non-binding in nature, and only very vaguely address conflicts of interests. Yet conflicts of interest are legion in the profession: examples of such wearing of two hats by journalists range from being paid for casual consulting and hosting jobs, to ministers’ romantic partners who continue to work as political journalists, to press trips. A national ethics authority is lacking in France. It is in the process of being set up.