In a high court, we never talk about small trials in opposition to the Assizes. Here, life, in its truth full of nuances, is told every day. There is no other place where the reporter finds himself so in touch with the realities on the ground. Daniel Corsand, editor-in-chief of France Bleu Béarn Bigorre, never tired of his coverage of the hearings at the Pau court.
Believe me, I lied, chis is the title of Daniel Corsand’s book published by Éditions Gascogne, because Daniel decided to transcribe the repartee heard at the bar of the Pau tribunal de grande instance, which sometimes resemble court briefs. It was by distilling them on his Facebook page that Daniel realized how much these dialogues resonated with listeners and Internet users. Not just because of the surreal conversations that animate the courtrooms and which can make you smile, but also for the slices of life they bring back.
As Daniel Corsand points out, there are no big or small trials. For those who appear, it is always the equivalent of the Dreyfus affair that is playing out in their lives. The tension is still palpable. The stories cannot be watched from afar as the stakes are much higher than they seem.
Daniel Corsand says it in this Profession Reporter, in a society governed by communicators where everyone communicates or tries to appear from a favorable angle, the trials deliver the raw truth of everyday life. Here, it is difficult to cheat, one can be mistaken but in the end, at the time of the verdict, a truth is established in its nuances and in its complexities.
And then the subjects which animate the courtrooms are real social debates, relevant and which accompany the time. Just as the defendants of 2002 are not the defendants of 2021 and tell an important part of our present, of the evolution or not, of mentalities. It is a precise radioscopy of what our society experiences in its advances or retreats.
And obviously all the subjects related to justice, its definition, the lack of means appear in broad daylight. And it is indeed in contact with a high court that lives are best told.