Media criticism

During the April 2012 election in France, an inflated idea of the importance of internet forums and so-called “social media” led the French national news agency to carelessly and knowingly break the law. The agency’s top journalists, and also its management, were convinced that the boring old law, common to many countries, which decrees that no results may be announced via national media until the last polling stations have closed, was a thing of the past.

An account of two years spent as an elected member of the AFP Works Committee, produced to back up my bid for re-election in 2011. Although running for a different union than the one I had originally been elected for, I was successful.

February 2010: Unexpectedly, in the midst of an epic struggle over his plans to transform AFP, CEO Pierre Louette resigns. To gain publicity for the union-backed “SOS-AFP” petition, I decide to throw my hat into the ring

Working as a journalist made me painfully aware of the negative effects of advertising, not only on the final consumer of news but also on the people who produce it. In early 2007 the CEO of my employer, Agence France-Presse, had clearly decided that such considerations were old hat. Thanks to my trade union, I was able to contest his decision to create news sites directly funded by advertising revenues.