He is a determined fighter for free, independent and democratic journalism which is suddenly disappearing. Christophe Deloire, director and secretary general of the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), died from a devastating cancer on Saturday June 8, at the age of 53, in Paris. He was hospitalized in April at Pitié-Salpêtrière after the discovery of brain tumors, then at Saint-Louis hospital in the 10e district of the capital.
Tributes multiplied following the announcement of the death of the man who was entrusted, in July 2023, by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, with the management of the steering committee of the States General of Information (EGI) , intended to give reliable and verified information a solid framework in the face of the rise of false information. “Christophe Deloire had journalism at his heart. For freedom of information and democratic debate, this free spirit fought, without borders, without rest”wrote, on X, the head of state.
“Pillar of the system, tireless defender of the right to information, Christophe marked the work of the States General of Information through his commitment, his convictions, his energy, his listening, but also his humanity”declared the members of the EGI upon the announcement of his disappearance. “He was a staunch defender of our profession at a time when our work and our values are increasingly called into question”, greeted the information director of Agence France-Presse, Phil Chetwynd. For Pierre Haski, president of the board of directors of RSF, “ [Il] led the organization at a crucial time for the right to information. His contribution […] was fundamental. »
Before being a journalism activist, Christophe Deloire was first, and for a long time… a journalist. Son of teachers, born in 1971 in Paray-le Monial (Saône-et-Loire), he passed his baccalaureate in 1989 at the Camille-Claudel high school in Digoin then joined an HEC prep school in Lyon. A graduate of Essec in 1994, he began his career at TF1, then joined the editorial staff of Point in 1998 where he devoted himself to investigation.
In 2003, he was awarded the Louis Hachette prize (now the Jean-Luc Lagardère prize) for an article devoted to the police investigation into the escape of Yvan Colonna. This work will also lead to a book co-authored with the journalist Christophe Dubois, The sabotaged investigation (Albin Michel, 2003). With M. Dubois, he signed three other works, still with Albin Michel: The Islamists are already here (2004), on the infiltration of political Islamism in the republic, Sexus Politicus (2006) and Circus Politicus (2012) on the underside of French politics. “He managed to write irreverent books, while remaining on the right side of the line”believes his friend Stéphane Colineau, journalist at La Tribune Sunday, whom he met when he was collection director at Flammarion. Latest book to date: The matrix (Calmann-Levy, 2022), about the interference of social networks in journalism and the disinformation factories of authoritarian regimes.
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