Yves AGNES: “It is important to be able to pay attention to the facts and processes in the society which do not seem significant at first glance”

“French journalism has lost its guidelines and is in search of it now,” considers Yves Agnes, former editor-in-chief of the newspapers Le Monde (The World) and Ouest-France (Western France). The meeting with the French media expert, who has come to our country for the first time, took place recently in Kyiv’s Ye bookstore with the assistance of the French Institute in Ukraine. Apart from his work in the press, Agnes, who is also known for his activity in the sphere of education, as he has headed in his time the French center for training of journalists (Centre de formation professionnelle des journalistes, CFPJ) and taught at France’s leading universities. The guest presented Ukrainian translation of his Manuel De Journalisme (Journalism Manual), which is on the list of best 20 new books of this year’s Forum of Book Publishers in Lviv.

According to Yves Agnes, although French journalism has never claimed to have a school of its own, it still has some typical features. Before becoming an independent branch, it for a long while remained on the crossing of politics and literature. Many French writers (Honore de Balzac, Emile Zola) and politicians (Georges Clemenceau, Jean Jaures) were journalists as well. Yves Agnes considers that such genealogy defines to some extent the present-day state of French journalism. Local media have preserved their liking for public debates and polemics, whereas they consider developing of some type of political thinking in readers as one of their main functions.

At the same time, connection with literature stimulates French journalists to treat the language carefully and attentively. However, the guest complains, with emerging of audiovisual mass media it is very likely that this tradition will be forgotten. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon press, the French press has never considered the superiority of the fact as its principle – commentaries and newspapers with “independent opinion” had the priority. But the media community is gradually refusing from this tradition, too.

But the French journalism has its drawbacks. In Yves Agnes’s opinion, today there are more cons than pros. Media workers are often self-assured and egocentric. Journalistic environment is disunited and disorderly: at the moment France has seven branch trade unions and over ten other organizations representing the publishing sphere. Officially you don’t need a diploma to work as a journalist, and everyone who has worked for over three months in a media company is given a journalist card. Labor legislation, which defines the principles of mass media activity in France, was for the most part adopted back in the 1930s. “All this, as well as the economic crisis and competition with the Internet is making the positions of the French press quite unstable,” Agnes sighs. “According to the results of sociological research, only half of the French trusts journalists.” It will be reminded that this result is close to Ukrainian reality: according to the data of the nationwide survey held in May this year by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation jointly with sociological service of the Razumkov Center, 58 percent of Ukrainians trust the mass media.

On the whole, French media expert gives quite a critical assessment of current tendencies in the French mass media.

“I for one am in the opposition to many of my colleagues, in particular, Parisian journalistic circles,” Agnes emphasized. “This is a small caste of people who have an opinion on everything and know ‘all about everything.’ At the same time, they are more interested in the rows between politicians than real events. It seems to me, when I was working with Le Monde, journalists were more professional. This refers to highlighting of French events, as well as the international topics: for example, a journalist who had to write about a country went there for several months, in order to understand it better. Nowadays, we almost don’t have any of this practice. Besides, today in French journalism and society on the whole there is a notion of dominating morals and political correctness. I am personally against this and I think journalists should enjoy full freedom. Our profession is about intruding, sometimes even brutally, into the most painful questions.”

Another problem which deeply concerns Yves Agnes refers to the question of journalistic ethic. For many years he has been standing for creation in France an institution which would take care of this sphere, like those existing in 20 European and many other countries. According to the guest, French legislation on protecting the freedom of the press is quite well developed, but like the rest of the laws which define the rights and freedoms of citizens, it protects mostly the rights of minorities. However, formulation of concrete ethical rules of journalistic work remains beyond the sphere of legislation. At the same time many French editorial offices and publishing groups have internal ethic charters, but even they are often violated, the French guest complains. Even such big and influential publications, like Le Monde…

According to Yves Agnes, although there is no open censorship or tabooed topics, the views of the owners or official position of the state still have an impact on their work to some extent. So, for example, TF-1 Channel, owned by an international group of building companies, will hardly tell about scandals connected with its activity. Many publications do not hide their political affiliations: for example, the newspaper Le Figaro is considered a right-wing newspaper, and L’Humanite highlights the positions of left-wing parties, in particular, those of the French Communist Party. Besides, because of the complicated economic situation, journalists more and more often depend on advertisers.

In spite of that, according to Agnes’s assessment, French journalism still remains quite influential in the world, above all in the Francophone part of the world, since English versions of the publication is a rare practice. But this is not so little, for over 200 million people in the world speak French.

At the end of the meeting, in spite of being tired of the air travel and intensive communication with the audience, Agnes agreed to answer several questions of The Day.

Mr. Agnes, in your opinion, what is the difference between the functions of journalism in European democracies and the developing countries?

“Yes, journalists in different countries have different scope of means and different history and traditions, but their functions are the same: to gather information and bring it to people. The thing is rather about the differences of tasks every concrete publication sets before itself. So, France has big mass media, which highlight the political topics, but journalism of narrower specialization is developed too – the press of separate branches or companies.”

In your opinion, can a journalist be a public activist at the same time? This is a much-discussed topic in Ukraine.

“I think, apart from journalists who work in party-run publications, the rest must avoid expressing their own position; their function is to observe. When I was working in the newspaper Le Monde, I as an employee was forbidden from being an active member of any party and from signing any petitions. I must admit the obligation to remain neutral puts journalists in quite an uncomfortable situation. When you write, you have to force yourself to refrain from emotions concerning one fact or the other. It is hard to go against your own beliefs, but sometimes you cannot do without that. You need to purposefully foster your journalistic neutrality. In my opinion, the ability to pay attention to the facts and processes in the society, which do not seem significant at first glance, is very important for a journalist. Mass media often write only about what is going on in the center of events. In fact, much is going on in periphery.”

In Ukraine you need to study for six years to get a journalist diploma, in France – only two years. Before that they get the basic education.

“Theoretically, you can apply to the two-year school of journalism after a secondary school. But the competition there is very high, so, people who have undergone a university preparation, stand much better chances. I am sure, a good journalist must have a well-working brain, and it is usually easier to achieve this with the help of university education. The experience of studying is very important. This refers to any specialization, not just journalism. During three years in a university people learn to analyze, to compare the facts. And actually the nuances of the profession can be mastered over two years. On the other hand, a journalist can finally mature and understand his responsibility before the society only thanks to his working experience with an editorial team.”

In your opinion, is specialization important for journalism education?

“In France journalism schools do not prepare specialists on politics or culture separately. They give a general background. After that the person chooses according to his or her calling what topics and plots they like more. Such system seems quite rational to me. In my life I have worked with a variety of topics, even sport. At the same time, like in Ukraine, journalistic education envisages specialization by kinds of media: future workers of the press, television, radio study separately, and Internet media is taught to everyone.”

In your opinion, can the press today work successfully, without involving any additional multimedia tools and social networks?

“I am sure that different media supplement each other, and only together they all create what can be called a profession of a journalist. At the same time, I think that in the future a daily newspaper won’t be able to exist only as a printed publication. If we look 20 years forward, I think, we will see that the Internet will become the main way to spread current news. However, printed editions will be focused on analysis, deep insight into the topic, and will become a natural supplement to the information that appears on the Internet.”