10 years after the attack, what future for caricature?

In his book “The threatened art of press cartoons”, Julien Sérignac, former director of the newspaper, from 2017 to 2022, calls for defending this form of journalism which is losing ground in the media.

“The idea of ​​a press cartoon is not just to make people laugh, it’s to provoke discussion, to stimulate thought.” And this is what Julien Sérignac, who was the general director of Charlie Hebdo between 2017 and 2022. On this Tuesday, January 7, 2025, which commemorates 10 years after the jihadist attack against the satirical magazine following the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, the former director publishes the book: The threatened art of press cartoons – How to defend caricature in a fractured society? hasux editions of the Observatory.

Since the attacks, the observation is simple, the place of news cartoons has been reduced year by year in the media “including across the Atlantic”, he points. “We followed the decision of the New York Times, a few years ago, to no longer publish press cartoons, he explains. En France, we have fewer and fewer titles that publish press cartoons”. And yet, according to a survey by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, carried out with Ifop and which appears today, “there are more than seven out of ten French people who are attached to press cartoons”.

Charlie Hebdo has 20,000 sales per week, 30,000 subscribers, a newspaper more known than read. But beyond the printed press, we now also have to rely on social networks and that is perhaps where the problem lies. “There has always been a core of Charlie Hebdo readers attached to reading this title, but there are many more people who discover Charlie Hebdo drawings or articles through the site or social networks,” underlines Julien Sérignac. “The drawings circulate a lot on social networks”but according to him, to fully understand a drawing, you have to master its codes. “You must first know how to read it, observe it, look at it and understand all the details. You must also understand the references to which this drawing refers”. A pedagogy that the association “Dessinez Create Liberté” tries to provide to high school students so that they understand press cartoons and are not lost “faced with a drawing which we have the impression is racist even though it is actually fighting racism”.

Long in the works, the idea of ​​a press cartoon house, launched in 2015 by François Hollande, then President of the Republic, should finally see the light of day in 2027. In 2020, Emmanuel Macron in turn made this commitment . A project which according to Julien Sérignac requires “political courage”. “The more we advance, the more the steps become concrete. There is now a place that is defined, there is a project around this place. 2027 is not that long away,” he rejoices. A place where, for him, caricatures of Mohammed should be exhibited: “It is essential, if we do not show the object which led to this attack, we miss the purpose of this drawing.“