Présent

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Présent
250x50px
Type Daily newspaper
Publisher Jeanne Smits
Founded January 5, 1982
Language French
Ceased publication June 30, 2022 (2022-06-30)
Headquarters Paris
ISSN 0750-3253
Website http://www.present.fr/

Présent was a French newspaper (published five days a week). Founded in January 1982 on the initiative of the Henri and André Charlier Center and Christianity-Solidarity, a Catholic establishment and association close to traditionalists, it aimed to oppose the current political, cultural and social system in France. The daily announced on its website that the June 30, 2022 issue would be its last. The editors specify that the site would continue to be updated.[1]

History

Foundation

The daily paper was founded by Bernard Antony (general manager and managing director), Jean Madiran and François Brigneau (editorial directors), Hugues Kéraly (editor-in-chief) and Pierre Durand (administrative director), but the title has existed since 1975 and was published until 1982 with variable frequency (monthly) by the Political and Social Action Committee.

"Nationalism and Catholicism"

The national-Catholic current of the newspaper Présent waxs classified as extreme right-wing by historians and political scientists such as Jean-Yves Camus,[2] Michel Winock[3] and Pierre Milza.[4] This classification wass also used by Laurent de Boissieu, political journalist at La Croix, on his personal website,[5] and by Agence France-Presse (AFP).[6]

Since its creation, Présent has always refused to be classified as an "extreme right-wing" daily, an appellation systematically rejected by the various media and organizations of this current of thought and action.[lower-alpha 1]

The newspaper discribed its inspiration as "wholly Catholic", representing the traditionalist current in the written press, close to the positions of the Society of Saint Pius X without following its logic in its entirety. At the height of the Lefebvrist crisis in 1988, Présent refused to pass judgment on the consecration of four bishops by Archbishop Lefebvre at Écône.

On the political and international fronts, Présent defended the theses of traditionalist Catholicism: militant in favor of the culture of life — and thus against abortion — and a policy favoring large families, in favor of a more repressive domestic policy — return to the death penalty, greater fight against Islamic immigration — as a remedy for "social unrest", and, on the international level, both sovereignist and often close to American and Russian positions, since the election of Boris Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin, Présent was a resolute opponent of Communism, Islamism and the French parliamentary political class, accused of "squandering" France's spiritual and moral heritage.

Présent originally adopted a highly polemical tone. In its June 23, 1983 issue, for example, it wrote of Robert Badinter, then Minister of Justice and architect of the abolition of the death penalty, an abolition to which the paper was vehemently opposed:

By heritage, he is for the migrant against the sedentary. For the cosmopolitan against the indigenous. [...] For the marginalized against the society that long rejected the Badinters. For the murderer against the murdered.

Thirty-five years later, with the death of François Brigneau and Jean Madiran, the polemical aspect of the daily was less noticible, while the cultural and literary dimension was developed, and the collaboration of several foreign correspondents (Latin America, USA, Canada, Near East, Eastern Europe, and China since March 2019) gave the international politics pages greater weight.

Présent often referred to the figures of French counter-revolution and counter-revolutionary thought: Louis de Bonald, Edmund Burke, Joseph de Maistre, Cardinal Pie, Monsignor Freppel (especially during his centenary celebrations in 1889), Charles Maurras and his Action française school, Marshal Pétain, the partisans of French Algeria, the figures of the anti-communist resistance during the Iron Curtain era, the Christian martyrs of the Eastern churches.

The policies supported by the newspaper can be seen in the National Revolution movement launched by Marshal Pétain — whose restorative work is explicitly glorified[3] — in 1940, or the authoritarian regimes of General Francisco Franco[lower-alpha 2] in Spain or Salazar in Portugal, or the current governments of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Italy, Austria and Brazil.

Présent's literary connections, often founded on loyalty to a shared battle of ideas or vision of history, also stemmed from an admiration for the work of writers of different political persuasions, but whose rigorous analysis or religious depth Présent praised: these included figures as diverse as Léon Bloy, Charles Péguy and Georges Bernanos, Robert Brasillach,[lower-alpha 3] Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, Jean de La Varende, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Henri Béraud, or more recently, Maurice G. Dantec, Jean Raspail, Denis Tillinac, Éric Zemmour, Michel Déon and the Hussards, Félicien Marceau...

Présent and the FN

Présent also identified itself as being "close" to the Front National and Jean-Marie Le Pen, although it was not an offshoot of the latter. In the form of an eponymous monthly that preceded it by several years, it predates the emergence of this party on the French political scene in the first half of the 1980s.

Links do exist, however: Bernard Antony, co-founder of Présent, was an important FN executive until the 2000s, while Pierre Durand, another co-founder and director of the paper, was one of the founders of the party, becoming its first national treasurer in 1972. Similarly, Georges-Paul Wagner, a regular contributor to Présent, was an FN deputy from 1986 to 1988.

Differences of opinion between the newspaper and the party have, however, become apparent over the last two decades, the most glaring of which concerned their positions on the Iraq war in 2003. As far back as 1990, during the first war against Iraq, the newspaper defended a very anti-Iraqi line, in stark contrast to that of Jean-Marie Le Pen.[8] They may, however, appear to reflect the coexistence within the FN of various currents on the French right and far right. When Bruno Mégret split from the Front National in 1998, Présent refused to take sides, prompting a call for a boycott from Le Pen.

The paper's editorial staff saw itself as just one component of what it calls the "national movement", each with its own specificity. The expression of disagreements on certain points did not prevent a common opposition to the political, social and cultural system of the time. This position was close to that of Radio Courtoisie and TV Libertés concerning the notion of "plural right".

In the run-up to the 2017 presidential election, Présent supported the Front National and adopted a resolutely pro-Marine Le Pen line, particularly during the latter's differences with Jean-Marie Le Pen in the spring of 2015.

Caroline Parmentier, former editor-in-chief of Présent, joined Marine Le Pen's campaign team for the 2022 presidential election, in charge of media relation.[9]

Editorial turnaround (2014)

Following the death of Jean Madiran in 2013, and against a backdrop of very serious financial difficulties, likely to lead to a bankruptcy filing, the management of Présent is significantly reshuffled in March 2014, causing in particular the departure of Yves Chiron, who explained his departure in his newsletter Aletheia,[10] and Marie Piloquet. Jeanne Smits, who had been appointed head of the editorial team by Jean Madiran in 2007, and Olivier Figueras left Présent for good, citing a change in the newspaper's orientation and referring to the journalists' conscience clause. Their claim was rejected by the Paris Labour Court. On January 14, 2020, the Court of Appeal of Paris overturned these rulings, granting them the benefit of the conscience clause on the main grounds that the newspaper, as they had "sensed", was now giving its "direct support" to Marine Le Pen.

Several other editors and columnists, including Maroun Charbel and Rémi Fontaine — a member of the team since the founding of the daily — disappeared from the newspaper's columns overnight from March onwards. Fontaine remained an employee of Présent (but his remuneration was partly covered by health insurance and provident funds), until October 6, 2017, when he obtained judicial termination of his employment contract, on the grounds of unfitness for work linked to the change in management, according to him, which is not mentioned in the judgment.[11] The newspaper has appealed against this decision.

In March 2015, Yves Brunaud, a member of the team since the founding of the daily, left the editorial staff, invoking the journalists' conscience clause. The newspaper was condemned in February 2019, Brunaud's decision to resign because of Présent's rather positive view of Putin's actions being considered by the judge of the Paris Labour Court as a "change of line" for the newspaper, which has always been hostile to the USSR and communism.

Several other journalists and columnists resigned or ceased their collaboration during this period: Jacques Trémolet de Villers, Jean-Pierre Dickès, Véronique Lafargue, Nicolas Tandler. But the majority of the remaining editorial staff had worked with Jean Madiran, or had done so in the past: Chard, Alain Sanders, Caroline Parmentier, Samuel Martin, Francis Bergeron, Jean Cochet, Christian Daisug, Pierre Malpouge, Franck Deletraz, Françoise Monestier, Jean-Claude Rolinat...

In mid-March 2015, Jean-Pierre Blanchard,[12] who had arrived as manager a year earlier at the same time as co-manager Zita de Lussy, stepped down from this role following disagreements with the editorial staff. His arrival had been announced on the front page of Présent, and he had outlined his plans on several occasions. His departure was not announced in the newspaper's columns. In June 2015, a group of former journalists sent a "Letter to members and friends of Présent"[13] to ask a "preliminary question" about Raphaël Dubrule's legitimacy to take the decisions that had "changed the nature and destiny of the newspaper", as representative of the Association Présent Militants, which owns 88% of the capital of SARL Présent. On June 17, 2015, at a new general meeting, Raphaël Dubrule was appointed co-manager of SARL Présent, replacing Jean-Pierre Blanchard. In January 2016, Zita de Lussy's departure as co-manager is announced in the trade press.[14] On March 21, 2016, the present.fr website announces the death of Raphaël Dubrule, manager and president of the Présent-Militants association. On June 16, 2016, Zita de Lussy is replaced as managing director at the ordinary general meeting by layout artist Thierry Verdier and cartoonist Françoise Pichard, known as Chard (who also becomes publication director).

A new controversy arose in July 2016 when Francis Bergeron announced in the newspaper the change of name of the association Présent-Militants, now CLAP (Club des Lecteurs et Amis de Présent), and his taking of office as president of this entity, which owned around 88% of the shares in SARL Présent. Having reprinted its press release on July 5, Salon beige supplemented this information with an interrogation on the circumstances of these changes on July 6, 2016, asking in particular how Bergeron, a non-member, was able to claim this position without a proper board of directors. This question remained unanswered. Subsequently, in 2018, the new Présent team would argue that full members (Jeanne Smits, 5 votes out of a total of 22 at the time, as well as Yves Chiron, 1 vote, Olivier Figueras, 1 vote, Jean-Claude Absil, 1 vote, Rémi Fontaine, 1 vote, and several others) were considered no longer part of it for having paid their dues in 2014 — uncalled contributions.

In April 2018, Présent-Militants' changed of title was published in the Journal Officiel: the association began to officially bear the name "The CLAP". On May 30, 2018, Francis Bergeron in turn became manager of the SARL, alongside Françoise Pichard, who appeared alone in the newspaper's masthead as manager and publication director. Francis Bergeron's new position was not announced in the newspaper. However, in the January 14, 2020 issue, he signed a CLAP press release with Françoise Pichard, mentioning "co-managers".

In June 2018, Présent announced difficulties that could make the paper disappear, showing a sharp drop in cash flow and a significant deficit due to the drop in public subsidies for dailies with low advertising resources, postal distribution difficulties, the additional costs of newsstand distribution by Presstalis, which increased the margin deducted from sales, and the weight of compensation for Rémi Fontaine's dismissal awarded at the end of 2017 (Fontaine having proceeded to seize a fraction of the sum obtained directly from Présent's accounts). Likewise a sharp drop in subscriber numbers ocurred concomitantly, which plummeted by more than 25% after 2014. An appeal for help occupied two pages of the newspaper every day of the month[lower-alpha 4] The Rémi Fontaine affair was presented as a major contributor to the newspaper's difficulties. Fontaine published a right of reply in which he pointed out that Présent had rejected a possible conciliation at the Labour Court, as well as his offer to pay compensation in instalments, the newspaper's management having preferred to initiate a judicial summary procedure, the decision of which proved more unfavorable to Présent than the said offer.[lower-alpha 5]

In August 2017, SARL Présent applied for and obtained a six-month safeguard procedure, twice extended, which expired in February 2020.[18] This resulted in a decision allowing SARL Présent to spread its debts over 10 years. A first payment of 5% of the sums due was scheduled for January 2021, but the newspaper was granted a further one-year extension due to the COVID crisis.

In November 2019, new difficulties were added to the paper survival, as state subsidies to the newspaper for its meager advertising resources were called into question. On Paris Vox, Samuel Martin denounced the inequity he felt the subsidies represented for the French press in general, a protest also echoed on the Résistance Républicaine website.[19] However, this position was criticized by the weekly Rivarol in a long article summarizing the Présent affair, which was taken up by several websites, including TradiNews[20] and Le Forum Catholique.[21]

In January 2020, almost six years after the events, the Paris Court of Appeal granted Olivier Figueras and Jeanne Smits, two journalists with more than twenty-two and twenty-six years' seniority respectively, the right to invoke their conscience clause and therefore to leave the daily while receiving their statutory compensation, as well as opening up their rights to unemployment benefits by virtue of a disagreement with the editorial line.[22] This double decision concerned a total of 110,000 euros included in the debt spread over 10 years under the safeguard plan. Présent appealed to the Court of Cassation.

In this case, Olivier Figueras and Jeanne Smits had proposed negotiation even before taking the matter to court in 2014; they had also agreed to take part in a mediation decided in 2019 by the Commercial Court in the context of proceedings brought by Présent in 2014 against Jeanne Smits in her capacity as former manager, calling on her to guarantee any compensation that might be awarded in favor of other employees who had brought Labour Court proceedings following the editorial turnaround. SARL Présent chose not to respond to these attempts at amicable settlement. Subsequently, at the end of 2020, it lost its appeal against the Commercial Court's decision rejecting its request for a guarantee from Jeanne Smits, a decision which has now become final. The 5,000 euros in legal costs awarded to Jeanne Smits by the Court of Appeal were in turn incorporated into the debt spread over ten years.

Controversies

Between 1985 and 1996, under the management of Jean Madiran, Présent was sued several times for defamation or incitement to racial hatred.

On April 9, 1985, François Brigneau, then director of Présent, and his collaborators Rémi Fontaine — the author of the article considered defamatory in question —, and Hugues Kéraly were convicted by the Sixth Chamber of the Lyon Regional Court of defamation against three immunology researchers from Lyon: Professor Jean-Louis Touraine and doctors René François and Paul Dubois, who had been accused by Présent of engaging in the traffic of fetuses. The three defendants were fined three thousand francs each, ordered to pay five thousand francs jointly to each of the three civil parties, ordered to pay for extracts of the judgment to be published in five newspapers, and ordered to publish the full text of their sentence in Présent.[23][lower-alpha 6]

On January 31, 1990, Pierre Durand, then director of Présent, and his collaborator Alain Sanders, were ordered by the First Chamber of the Paris Civil Court to pay 50,000 francs in damages, costs and publication of the judgment, for "defamation" of Olivier Biffaud, a journalist with Le Monde. Under the headline "Olivier Biffaud car il ment deux fois" (Olivier Biffaud lies twice), Sanders had described Biffaud as "a sort of poor man's sub-Rollat [...], an embittered militant, an ex-Trotskard (or similar), converted into a cop-style Plenel report". The court ruled that these were "serious accusations" levelled against Olivier Biffaud, "whose probity and impartiality are, in the contested article, under a particularly distasteful headline, basely called into question in terms whose lack of prudence and moderation not only excludes good faith, but also increases the prejudice suffered [...]".

On May 2 of the same year, Pierre Durand was fined 8,000 francs for "racial defamation", following an article by Jean-Yves Le Gallou. The latter had claimed that "young beurs" enjoy "impunity when they travel free on public transport, when they give the police the finger, [...] when they attack town halls, police stations [...], impunity because anti-racist laws and the way they are applied give them privileges." Durand was also ordered to pay five thousand francs in damages to MRAP, and to pay for publication of the judgment in two newspapers. Jean-Yves Le Gallou was sentenced to the same penalties. However, this judgment was overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal (11th chamber, January 30 1991). MRAP contested the judgment, but in 1993 the criminal division of the French Supreme Court upheld it.

On May 13, 1993, the 11th chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a previous acquittal (17th century chamber of the Paris Criminal Court, October 30, 1992) and sentenced the newspaper, in the person of its director, Pierre Durand, to a fine of 20,000 francs, and to pay each of the civil parties (LICRA and MRAP) 10,000 francs in damages and 5,000 francs under article 475-1 of the French Criminal Code. Présent was found guilty of "incitement to racial hatred" following the publication of an interview with Jean-Marie Le Pen on August 18, 1989, in which he spoke of "Arab predators". In the same case, the European Parliament opposed the lifting of Jean-Marie Le Pen's parliamentary immunity, arguing that the request submitted to it was "imperfect and imprecise".

In May 1996, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered Présent to pay 20,000 francs in damages to Patrick Gaubert, former advisor to Charles Pasqua, for defamation. Présent had written that a right-wing militant who died by accident had been "gaubertized".

Technical specifications

Présent was distributed by postal subscription, as well as on newsstands (since May 17, 1989) and, after March 2004, by Internet subscription.

Présent appeared five times a week, Monday to Friday (Paris) or Tuesday to Saturday (outside the Paris region). The issues printed in the early afternoon were always dated for the following day, in keeping with the customary practice of evening dailies, which Le Monde and Présent were the only ones to maintain in 2013.

The daily's format was approximately A3 (297 × 420 mm) or tabloid and its pagination eight pages for the first four issues of the week, and sixteen pages for the issue dated Saturday, following a major layout change in September 2017.

The daily relied on financial contributions from its readers (mainly subscriptions) and public subsidies for dailies with low advertising resources: it does not ban advertising, but in fact publishes little of it. In 1997, the newspaper was excluded from the subsidy reserved for newspapers with low advertising resources, due to a sales price above 130% of the average price for national dailies, and because of an unfavorable interpretation by the State of the conditions for granting the subsidy. This subsidy was reinstated in 2009 following a fall in newsstand sales prices.

Since 2017, the front page has been illustrated daily, depending on current events, by a photo or sometimes by the cartoonist Chard, who has also drawn for the weekly Rivarol since the late 1960s.

Présent also published a special issue every two months, sold on newsstands for 5 euros, or as part of a premium subscription.

Its original motto, "Dieu, famille, patrie" ("God, family, country"), was replaced following the editorial turnaround of 2014 by a phrase from Georges Bernanos: "There are no average truths." But every Saturday, the two religious news pages, edited by Anne Le Pape, were placed under the motto "Dieu premier servi" ("God first served").

Staff

  • 1981–1982: Romain Marie
  • 1983–1994: Pierre Durand
  • 1981–1985: Jean Madiran and François Brigneau, editorial directors
  • 1985–1994: Jean Madiran, managing editor
  • 1994–2000: Jean Madiran, managing director and editorial director; Zita de Lussy, co-managing director
  • 2000–2006: Jean Madiran, editorial director; Jeanne Smits and Zita de Lussy, co-managers
  • 2007–March 2014: Jeanne Smits, managing director and editorial director; Jean Madiran (died 2013), director emeritus
  • March 2014–March 2015: Jean-Pierre Blanchard,[12] managing director; Zita de Lussy, co-managing director; Francis Bergeron, editorial director
  • June 2015–2016: Raphaël Dubrule, managing director; Zita de Lussy, co-managing director
  • After June 2016: Françoise Pichard, manager and director of publication; Thierry Verdier, managing director
  • After May 2018: Françoise Pichard, manager and director of publication; Francis Bergeron, managing director

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ↑ But if we are asked to "situate ourselves", that is, to declare for ourselves what we are and where we are, then we need to hear our own answer. It's a response that modifies François Brigneau's formula, or rather fulfills it and brings it to its full truth: "We are to the right of the extreme right. This does not mean undifferentiated contempt for all those and everything that the official jargon presents as the "extreme right". But first of all, here again, it's a refusal of the left-wing arbitrariness that inspires and imposes a false classification. In reality, there is no extremism, on the right or elsewhere, in wanting to base social life on "work-family-family" and "God first".[7]
  2. ↑ After the death of Spanish General Antonio Aleman, Présent called for "a new crusading spirit".
  3. ↑ On February 6, 1995, Présent organized a public meeting in honor of Robert Brasillach, chaired by Maurice Bardèche.
  4. ↑ Boulevard Voltaire, Paris Dépêches and Riposte Laïque repeated the appeal for donations.[15]
  5. ↑ Further details are given in a press release co-signed by Rémi Fontaine and Yves Brunaud and summarized by Le Monde,[16] while cash flow problems, for their part, remain topical over the following year,[17] notably due to an accelerated decline in the number of subscribers since the editorial turnaround of March 2014, insufficiently offset by newsstand sales, which are also experiencing a decline.
  6. ↑ See Francis Bergeron and Rémi Fontaine's contradictory account of this trial in a related note.[24]

Citations

  1. ↑ "Demain nous appartient," Présent (29 juin 2022). Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  2. ↑ Camus, Jean-Yves; René Monzat (1992). Les Droites Nationales et Radicales en France. Presses universitaires de Lyon, pp. 476–77.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Winock, Michel (1999). La France Politique. XIXe – XXe Siècle. Paris: Éd. du Seuil.
  4. ↑ Milza, Pierre (2004). L'Europe en chemise noire: Les extrêmes droites en Europe de 1945 à aujourd'hui. Paris: Éditions Flammarion, pp. 237–38.
  5. ↑ "France Politique," France-politique.fr.
  6. ↑ "Le quotidien d'extrême-droite Présent poursuit son activité," AFP (9 novembre 2007).
  7. ↑ Madiran, Jean (septembre-octobre 1981). "Notre politique," Itinéraires, No. 256.
  8. ↑ Lebourg, Nicolas (2010). Le Monde vu de la plus extrême droite. Du fascisme au nationalisme-révolutionnaire. Presses universitaires de Perpignan, p. 151.
  9. ↑ Trippenbach, Ivanne (13 avril 2022). "Caroline Parmentier, la très droitière conseillère qui veut adoucir l’image de Marine Le Pen," Le Monde. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  10. ↑ Chiron, Yves (4 juin 2014). "Pourquoi je n’écris plus dans Présent", Aletheia, No. 216, XVe année,. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Jugement Rémi Fontaine".
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Epinay, Bénédicte (4 juin 1993). "La Blanche Porte multiplie les projets," Les Échos. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  13. ↑ "(un groupe de journalistes) Lettre ouverte aux sociétaires et amis de Présent," Tradinews.blogspot.fr (juin 2015). Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  14. ↑ "Zita de Lussy quitte Présent," PresseNews, No. 504 (5 Janvier 2016).
  15. ↑ Bluszez, Fabrice (4 juin 2018). "Le journal Présent pourrait disparaître," Parisdepeches.fr. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  16. ↑ "Le quotidien d’extrême droite Présent tente d’éviter la faillite," Newsstandhub.com, Le Monde.fr. (4 septembre 2018). Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  17. ↑ "Situation à Présent: La suite," Leforumcatholique.org (2019). Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  18. ↑ "Observations de Jeanne Smits à propos du quotidien “Présent”," Le blog de Jeanne Smits (11 mars 2019). Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  19. ↑ "L'appel aux grands quotidiens du journal Présent - ParisVox," ParisVox (7 novembre 2019). Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  20. ↑ "Jérôme Bourbon - Rivarol: Présent, la subvention publique et les prud’hommes," TradiNews (12 novembre 2019). Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  21. ↑ "Présent, la subvention publique et les prud’hommes," Leforumcatholique.org. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  22. ↑ "Le quotidien « Présent » de nouveau en difficulté," Le Monde.fr (25 février 2020). Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  23. ↑ "Présent condamné pour diffamation envers trois médecins," Le Monde (11 avril 1985).
  24. ↑ "Rémi Fontaine: Note à propos de Jean-Louis Touraine et Présent: pour l’honneur d’un journal(iste)!," TradiNews (26 novembre 2019). Retrieved 30 December 2019.

References

  • Bergeron, Francis (2019). Présent, un défi au quotidien. Paris: Dualpha.
  • Madiran, Jean (2007). Les vingt-cinq ans de Présent. Versailles: Via Romana.
  • Parmentier, Caroline (1996). Journaliste à Présent. Maule: Difralivre.

External links


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