The newspaper, which claims to be right-wing without actually engaging in activism, believes it has a role to play in this key period of democracy. “Our goal is to have the most comprehensive, responsive and in-depth coverage of the campaign., declares Alexis Brézet, guest of franceinfo on Tuesday 14 December. Certainly, Le Figaro has an editorial color, it’s obvious, we are not going to hide it. But covering a campaign is the work of an entire editorial staff, 450 journalists! We do not support any candidate. It’s been a long time since Le Figaro does not give voting instructions. I think our readers are grown-ups who make up their minds. The job of a newspaper like ours is to provide the information, to enlighten, to give its opinion but in no case to give instructions. “
Last week, Le Figaro signed, with some twenty media, an appeal to all candidates to respect the freedom to inform and the need for journalists to be able to exercise their profession “under basic security conditions”. An allusion to the violence that took place during the first Eric Zemmour meeting, who is not quoted in the text: “The attacks on journalists, there have always been, recalls Alexis Brézet. It is unacceptable, it is scandalous, we have to fight against it. Politicians have the right to criticize journalists, journalists criticize politicians. But the freedom to exercise this profession calmly is essential and we will fight for that with our colleagues. “
Until the last school year, journalist Eric Zemmour wrote a weekly column in Le Figaro. He no longer works there since he started a tour of France to promote his book. Now a candidate, what link has he kept with the newspaper? “He no longer writes in Le Figaro, he is no longer paid by Le Figaro, he no longer has an office at Figaro. Links with the editorial staff are severed. He is still under contract but these are legal considerations that will be managed at the end of the campaign. The editorial question is clear: Eric Zemmour’s campaign is treated no more and no less than anyone else’s and I don’t think anyone is criticizing the way we treat his campaign. Questions may have arisen at the beginning, it is this in-between that was complicated to manage. Now he is a candidate, things are very clear. He is no longer a journalist, he is in a political fight, he is in the process of creating a party. He won’t come back.