He “transformed the association into a world champion for the defense of journalism, for twelve years,” praised RSF in a press release sent to AFP. “Investigator, trainer, president of an NGO, Christophe Deloire had journalism at his heart. For freedom of information and democratic debate, this free spirit fought, without borders, without rest,” reacted President Emmanuel Macron on X.
Battle against CNews
Christophe Deloire was again in February on the sets of CNews facing Pascal Praud to defend the decision of the Council of State on the strengthening of control by Arcom of the news channel belonging to conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, which has become “a media of opinion,” according to RSF. We could also see his tall figure, graying hair and round glasses, alongside the JDD strikers, who protested for more than a month in the summer of 2023 against the arrival of Geoffroy Lejeune, marked on the far right , at the title management of Lagardère.
“We are going to say no to an ogre who devours the news media and transforms them into opinion media,” said the face of RSF from the podium, during a support evening organized by the NGO. From the former Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak to the boss of the audiovisual regulator, Roch-Olivier Maistre, reactions are pouring in to pay tribute to him.
For journalist Pierre Haski, chairman of the board of directors of RSF, “Christophe Deloire led the organization at a crucial moment for the right to information. His contribution to the defense of this fundamental right has been considerable.” “He was a staunch defender of our profession at a time when our work and our values are increasingly called into question,” said AFP news director Phil Chetwynd.
In charge of “General States of Information”
Last year, Christophe Deloire was appointed general delegate of the States General of Information, a campaign promise from Emmanuel Macron in 2022. Launched in October 2023, these aim to “achieve a plan of “action” to “guarantee the right to information in the digital age”, he then explained to AFP, while the process is supposed to be completed this summer. Since 2018, he was also the founding president of the Forum on Information and Democracy. Internationally, Christophe Deloire was involved in numerous issues, such as the murder in Istanbul of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi or attacks on press freedom in Russia.
In the United States, the New York organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a partner of RSF, estimated on X (formerly Twitter) that “the world had lost a champion of freedom of the press.” In Washington, the National Press Club paid tribute to “Christophe, a great friend of journalists wherever they are, deeply passionate about the rights of journalists”, welcoming his involvement in the case of Austin Tice, an American reporter kidnapped and disappeared in Syria in 2012.
Denouncer of increased violence against journalists
Christophe Deloire regularly warned of the increase in violence against journalists. “Multiplied by social networks, which bear a heavy responsibility in this regard, these hateful feelings legitimize this violence and weaken, a little more every day, journalism and, with it, democracy,” he already denounced in 2018.
Before taking the helm of RSF, Christophe Deloire headed the Journalists Training Center (CFJ) in Paris from 2008 to 2012. He also worked for the magazine Le Point from 1998 to 2007. In 2004, he published with Albin Michel, “The Islamists are already there”, an investigation co-signed with the journalist Christophe Dubois, then “Sexus Politicus” in 2006, again with Christophe Dubois, on sexuality in French political life.
Launched in 1985 in France by four journalists, RSF has become over the decades a spearhead of press freedom and the right to information around the world. The NGO, whose headquarters is in Paris, is present on all continents, via offices in around ten cities and correspondents in some 130 countries. It detects and denounces obstacles to freedom of information and comes to the aid of imprisoned or threatened journalists (legal assistance, loan of bulletproof vests, pressure on States and institutions, etc.).
Since 2002, RSF has published an annual report on abuses committed against journalists in 180 countries. This world ranking of press freedom is a reference for many media and several international institutions.
