The interview with an incarcerated drug trafficker

The interview with a detainee, interviewed by telephone, and broadcast on franceinfo, provoked numerous reactions from listeners. The Radio France mediator, Emmanuelle Daviet, relays these reactions to the author of this interview, Stéphane Pair, journalist in charge of investigations at franceinfo…

Tuesday March 19, Emmanuel Macron was in Marseille for the launch of the “Planète Nete XXL” operation. Objective: to put a stop to drug trafficking, which is plaguing France’s second city. Stéphane Pair was able to contact a Marseille drug trafficker in prison. This man followed the head of state’s movement while watching television and declared into Stéphane Pair’s microphone: “With all the prisoners, we had a good laugh in front of the TV”. So we will start by discussing the conditions for carrying out this interview which is of particular interest to listeners.

Emmanuelle Daviet: The interview with this trafficker was carried out using a clandestine cell phone in prison. First question, as a journalist responsible for investigations at franceinfo, are there any ethical limits that should not be crossed?

Stéphane Pair: Obviously, there are ethical limits to be set when we go towards this type of document, testimony. We have been working for several months on the effectiveness of the fight against drugs, in our media, and in particular on the effectiveness of “shelling”, this method, which is used by public authorities today, to try to attack and suffocate the deal points.

To go for this type of testimony, we had not planned, but there you have it, indeed, telephones are circulating in prison, we know it, we have devoted our own reports to this, it is prohibited. But it’s true that to get to this testimony, we contacted someone who was in prison. From his point of view, it is forbidden to have a telephone in prison. But we actually contacted this man, to go to this testimony, and to describe a situation.

Your interview caused a lot of reaction. Here are some excerpts from listener messages:“It is unacceptable to give voice to this type of individual who advertises his trafficking while flouting the work of the police.”
Another listener writes: “That Franceinfo, a news media paid for by our taxes, has the luxury of honoring criminals in prison is a shame.”
What do you say to listeners who say they are shocked to hear this testimony? Is it your role to make such words heard?

So, the question of drugs in France, the drug market in France, is so present in our society, that yes, I think it is an important role of the journalist to go towards this type of testimony, even if is it that of a person who is detained in prison, and who has been convicted. I am not the first journalist to interview someone in detention. I am not the first journalist to question a trafficker.

Moreover, for example, our colleagues from Provence are doing a great job with a podcast called North Cartel, where he also questions traffickers who, obviously, in the name of protecting sources, are not cited. So, it is obviously the job of journalists to go towards this type of testimony, to describe the whole, ultimately the big picture of drug trafficking and the penetration, above all, of drugs into French society.

We end with this remark: “I don’t see the point in relaying the words of an offender in prison. How is his word more important than that of any other honest citizen”, a listener writes to us. What is the journalistic benefit of broadcasting this type of testimony?

After the visit of the Head of State to Marseille, where the police forces were given the floor about everything that is being done in the fight against drugs in France, which is enormous. These are exceptional means which are currently being deployed by the public authorities to fight against drugs. It seems to us, yes, important to also give voice or a counterpoint to this fight against drugs. Is it effective? This is the heart of our work today, within the framework of investigations, we seek to know whether this state action is effective.

And for that, yes, we must also look for this type of documents, that is to say try to understand if this action has an impact on these traffickers, on these dealers. And the journalist is also there to question all points of society, to summon all points of society, to try to ultimately have a vision of what is really happening on the ground and in France.