Caroline Fourest is co-founder and editorial director of the weekly newspaper Franc-Stireur whose new issue, released Wednesday November 29, is making its One with the trial of the assassination of Samuel Paty. For two years, this political magazine, whose price remains stuck at 2 euros and whose number of subscribers has increased to 30,000 subscribers, has given voice to personalities with strong ideas, sometimes contrary, but who all fight against their common enemies. and especially words in -ism such as obscurantism, wokism, conspiracy, extremism, fundamentalism and so on.
Franceinfo: You say you defend ideas with a desire for moderation and appeasement. Is this really possible in 2023 with social networks hysterizing the debate and especially in the extremely tense context of the war in the Middle East?
Caroline Fourest: It’s a real challenge. It’s a real weekly challenge, but we put energy, heart and good humor into it. We are trying, indeed, to produce a biting newspaper against polarization and against excesses, against extremes, but we realized that we still had to also give pleasure to readers and not simply say moderate things in a way that sometimes too lukewarm. Sometimes you have to say it frankly. So.
Sales of “Franc-Tireur” have surged since the outbreak of war in the Middle East. What do you think attracted new readers? Is this really linked to what is happening in the Middle East?
We were already on an upward curve since the launch of the newspaper. Honestly, we gain both newsstand readers and subscribers. We also worked even more on our formula for the two-year anniversary. But yes, of course there is an effect of October 7, because precisely, in times when excesses are heard a lot and people suffer from them, people also need to read a newspaper which gives them a little morale, which helps them to hold on.
You said : “We must say things frankly“, but then how do we maintain nuance when we say things frankly?
Clearly. That’s the difference.
“Often we confuse being moderate with saying a little to the left, a little to the right, and then people will find their way. When you say something clearly, it’s this precision that makes the difference .”
Caroline Fourestfranceinfo
People, who don’t have much time to try to unravel everything that is being said and who are generally overwhelmed by the propaganda or by the declarations, by the little sentences, appreciate it. That’s what our readers tell us.
On the war between Israel and Hamas, can we be nuanced? How do you do ?
We attack those who are not or those who, for example, obviously confuse the struggle for Palestine with the pro-Hamas struggle. That’s a lot of people today, unfortunately. When you have a slogan, for example, which says for Palestine: “From the river to the sea“, it is not an anti-colonialist slogan, it is an exterminationist slogan. Putting words to that, showing where the discourse is slipping and revealing, I can tell you that in eight pages each week, we have something TO DO.
In your opinion, what does this conflict in the Middle East say about French society?
First of all, there is once again everything which is intertwined, that is to say that there are at this moment, both people who are confusing, for example, what is happening in Crépol and what happened on October 7. We sense in the speeches that there is confusion. Everything is mixed up and people make continuities based on first names that we also try to unravel because it’s important to put words when it’s organized gang violence, it’s not an attack and then it’s not It’s not the pogrom we experienced on October 7.
But is it the work of the far right that is fueling this?
Yes, finally, I fear that unfortunately it is broader than that. The far right seeks to create these continuities through first names, through origins, through identities. We are a newspaper which is constantly trying to undo the identity discourses which exist mainly on the far right and sometimes also on the far left, honestly, that’s the risk, because they feed each other and we try to restart a debate of ideas.
“We have the right to disagree, but the main thing is that we continue to argue about our ideas, not about our identities. Because that’s called civil war.”
Caroline Fourestfranceinfo
“Franc-Tireur” is eight pages without advertising, short articles, no photos, newsprint, 2 euros. Who reads you?
So we obviously, like all those who read the written press, undoubtedly have CSP+, we have people no older than in the rest of the written press, we are average and we try to attract both students and once again, those who no longer bought the press and who are coming back thanks to the price. The female-male balance is respected.
What is your relationship with the owner of the newspaper, the billionaire Daniel? Křetínský ? Are there any interventions on his part?
No. I really wish all the editorial teams to have the freedom that we have and at the same time, having gone to look for people like me or Raphaël Enthoven, you can imagine that if they hadn’t had that in mind, It’s because they didn’t choose the right people.
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