Martine Biron, Paule Robitaille and Alexis Deschênes were in turn journalists before entering politics, sometimes causing unease among the public and their ex-colleagues. But jumping the fence is nothing new or surprising, they pleaded on Sunday at the Carleton-sur-Mer International Journalism Festival (FIJC), claiming to have done it out of the conviction of being able to “change things”, without wishing to taint the profession.
“A journalist is not a robot. He is a professional who cuts his biases to do his job. The day he presents himself in politics, he does not have convictions grafted on him, they have always been there. He just decided to play a different role in society, ”said Alexis Deschênes, former PQ candidate in Bonaventure.
The now lawyer was invited by the FIJC to discuss the controversial transition from journalism to politics. The Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie Martine Biron and former Liberal MP Paule Robitaille also shared their experiences. Each of them had a career as a television journalist at TVA or Radio-Canada before running for provincial politics.
In their eyes, it is not surprising that journalists are tempted by politics. Many of them have been doing it for decades, such as Bernard Drainville, Vincent Marissal, Christine St-Pierre and Jean-François Lisée.
Although journalists lift the veil on injustices in society to urge leaders to correct the situation, they have no decision-making power in their hands. And it is this “no more” that often attracts them to go “to the other side of the mirror”, argues Martine Biron. “Politics is another path. I often say that in journalism, you give people a voice. In politics, you wear it. »,
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Beyond this common desire to change society, the two professions have many other points in common, argued the three panelists. They even believe that their career as a journalist has been an asset in understanding and slipping more quickly into their role as politicians.
“Everything I learned in journalism, the journalistic approach, I apply in politics in the gathering of information to arrive at a decision”, gives as an example Ms. Biron.
Listening is also an aspect of the profession of journalist that Ms. Robitaille exported to her job as a politician, when she sat in the National Assembly from 2018 to 2022. “In journalism, you listen, you take notes and you develop some empathy. As a politician, it is also super important, both with citizens and in parliamentary committees. »
The rigor in the search for facts and the ability to popularize information quickly is also a big advantage for journalists who get into politics, notes for his part Alexis Deschênes. “It has a lot of value in a party. »
Not to mention the notoriety enjoyed by journalists, particularly when they appear on television. “It’s part of the calculation for a political party, certainly, you would have to be naive to think otherwise,” he insists. Martine Biron abounds in the same direction, but wishes to emphasize that a “star candidacy” is not “a guarantee of election”.
Ethical problem ?
Although the professions of journalist and politician have similarities, the transition from one to the other always raises misunderstandings and questions within the media community and sometimes even the public.
Martine Biron suddenly decided last fall to run under the banner of the Coalition avenir Québec, when she was still a few weeks earlier in her chair as an analyst at the National Assembly for Radio-Canada. The commotion was such that the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec came out publicly to express several fears. Among them, the creation of confusion among the public as to the real independence of journalists. This aspect was also raised during the FIJC.
“Have I harmed the profession? There are people who think so. […] I look at myself very well in front of the mirror. I believe that I have been ethical,” replied Ms. Biron, recalling having systematically refused proposals from provincial and federal parties for years. “In this case, I was on vacation when the offer fell,” she adds, adding that she could not see herself returning as a journalist to cover the election campaign, knowing very well that the offer would stuck in my head for several days. So she ended up accepting.
Should the medium adopt certain rules, such as imposing a period of purgatory before a journalist stands as a candidate? “I don’t see how there could be any. I think those who want to make that choice must do so within their own ethical rules. »
And the ethical question also arises in the other direction, when the ex-journalist turned politician wishes to return to his initial profession. The three speakers do not see any problem there. “There is nothing stopping us from starting to tell stories again […] if it’s very far from politics,” argues Ms. Robitaille. She also experienced this return to journalism by writing several articles on the war in Ukraine for The Press.
“Jean Charest was a lawyer before being a politician and today he has become a lawyer again, and that is accepted. Me, I’m a journalist, I don’t think I’m going to be anything else, ”says Ms. Biron, thus affirming her desire to return to the milieu, perhaps by chronicling, when she leaves politics.
Our journalist is in Carleton-sur-Mer at the Festival’s invitation.