Almost ten years ago, the Charlie attacks… the Metz press club worked on a special program for January 9.
“There were thousands of us walking together. Nearly 45,000 according to the organizers. And the organizers, well it was us, journalists! », sends Philippe Marque, president of the Metz press club, while projecting on the big screen the photo album of the streets of Metz, this January 11, 2015.
A city full of people and citizens who came to say no to barbarism, to all forms of extremism resembling a grim reaper, which had then taken the lives of journalists, freelancers and collaborators of Charlie Hebdo, of police officers, of this Parisian editorial staff that no uniform could save madmen. It was almost ten years ago and like the entire French population and beyond, journalists have not forgotten. The wound, open, no longer has infections. The freedom to speak has never been so disrupted. “We had to do something…”
The program is still being developed but the main avenues are emerging. Philippe Marque, with two other journalists at his side, Frédéric Schnur and Cédric Rouillon, together send off some great festivities. On January 9, the date to be marked with a white stone, the very first edition of Place de la presse will take place, in one of the lounges of the Metz station. Hours to spend together, meeting journalists from the regional daily press, whether they are from the written press, TV or radio and the web. A sort of think tank where no subject will be taboo, where freedom of the press will be carried as a standard. “We don’t have that many moments to get together, moments to discuss our practices, on how to develop our profession,” explains Cédric Rouillon. And he’s right.
A public meeting
The University of Lorraine will also be there, represented by teacher-researchers and students. The Grand Est also which, for several months, worked on a newspaper of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Schoolboys, teachers, journalists have brought their dough and the duck will be worth seeing. As much as a traveling exhibition that 300 establishments in Lorraine will also discover from 2025.
This January 9, we will also talk about press cartoonists, about this artificial intelligence which invites itself into the editorial offices and plays havoc with everything, about fake news, of course… The journalists present will try to shed their light, field experience under my belt. The one who never leaves them. A public meeting, in a way!
To register for the day of January 9, 2025, you must go to the website https://presse-metz.org.
S.-G. Sebaoui
(the Lorraine Republican)
