Ethics Committee, Media Education, Secret Sources… What the States General of Information are proposing – Libération

After nine months of work, the fifteen measures envisaged divide defenders of freedom of the press, who see them as a “solid foundation for the future of journalism” or, on the contrary, point out their “blandness” or even a “surrender” to shareholders and big bosses.

“The time has come to safeguard the right to information for those who create it, and to develop the right to information for those for whom it is intended,” we read in their report. It was this Thursday, September 21 in the morning that the work carried out over nine months by the States General of Information (EGI) was made public, a major project for “protecting free information from interference”, according to Emmanuel Macron’s promise in March 2022. Launched in October, these States General will have been nourished by 22 citizens’ assemblies and events organized in the region, 174 hearings, 76 written contributions. They were also upset by the sudden death of Christophe Deloire, their general delegate and secretary of Reporters Without Borders, in the spring. At the end, the steering committee of the States General, led by Bruno Patino, also president of Arte, submitted fifteen proposals ranging from media education to the defense of the European information space.

One measure in particular was particularly scrutinized: the protection of editorial offices against predatory shareholders like Vincent Bolloré. These