Le Canard enchaîné

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Type Weekly newspaper
Format newspaper
Owner Michel Gaillard
Editor S.A. Les Éditions Maréchal
Founded 1915
Political allegiance Leftist
Headquarters Paris
Circulation 446,000 weekly
ISSN 0008-5405
Website: www.canardenchaine.com

Le Canard enchaîné is a satirical newspaper published weekly in France, founded in 1915, featuring investigative journalism and leaks from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as a large number of jokes and humorous cartoons. It has a circulation of 446,000. It is one of the most respected and oldest French newspapers, despite its often humoristic tone.

Contents

[edit] Presentation

Its name itself is a reference to Radical Georges Clemenceau's newspaper L'homme libre ("The Free Man") which was forced to close by government censorship and reacted by changing its name to L'homme enchaîné ("The Chained-up Man"); Le Canard enchaîné means "The chained-up duck", but canard (duck) is also French slang for "newspaper"; It was also a reference to the trench journals published by soldiers during World War I.

The Canard has a fixed 8 page layout. Pages 1-4 and 8 are mostly news and editorials. Pages 5-7 are dedicated to social issues (such as the environment), profiles, general humour and satire, Cabu's "Beauf" comic strip, and literary, theater, opera and film criticism. One section, called l'Album de la Comtesse, is dedicated to spoonerisms.

It was founded by Maurice Maréchal and his wife Jeanne Maréchal and H. P. Gassier.[1] It briefly changed its title after WWI to Le Canard Déchaîné (the duck without chains), to celebrate the end of military censorship of the press. It resumed the title Le Canard Enchaîné in 1920.

It continued to publish and grow in popularity and influence until it was forced to suspend publication during the German occupation of France in 1940. After Liberation, it resumed publication. It gained its 8-page format in the 1960s.

Many of the Canard's early contributors were members of the Communist and Socialist parties, but it shed its alignment with those groups in the 1920s. Its current owners are not tied to any political or economic group, although it does tend to have a left-wing political bias. It now fiercely defends its independence against any alignment, and has gained a reputation for publishing incriminating stories and criticizing any political party with no preference. It is also fairly anti-clerical and lampoons the nobility. The Canard does not accept any advertisements. In the 1920s, it used to publish free advertisement for Le Crapouillot, another satirical magazine created by Jean Galtier-Boissière, a friend of Maurice Maréchal. Similarly, Le Crapouillot was carrying free advertisements for the Canard. The relations between the two magazines soured between the Spanish Civil War as Maréchal was supporting the republican government of Madrid, while Galtier-Boissière was strictly pacifist.

The Canard is notable because of its focus on scandals in French governmental and business circles, although it does also cover other countries. Although they became more aggressive during François Mitterand's presidency, major French newspapers are traditionally reluctant to challenge government corruption or pursue embarrassing scandals (the rationale being that revealing political or business scandals only profits to extremists of the far-left or far-right); the Canard filled that gap. The Canard publishes "insider knowledge" on politicians and "leaks" from administration officials, including information from whistle-blowers. Generally, the Canard is well informed about happenings within the world of French politics. Its revelations have sometimes brought about the resignation of cabinet ministers. Some of the information published by the Canard clearly comes from very well-placed sources, likely including ministerial aides. Charles de Gaulle was a frequent target; he was known to ask, "What does the damned bird have to say?" (que dit le volatile?) on the day – every Wednesday – the Canard would roll off the presses. There are often verbatim and off-the-record quotes from major politicians, including the President and Prime Minister, usually aimed at another politician.

Although the Canard has recently improved, its international coverage was spotty. It relies mostly on leaks from French government services and reports from the other media.

The Canard also publishes satirical cartoons and jokes. The factual and jocular columns are cleanly delineated.

Famous are the weekly bogus interview "interviews (presque) imaginaires", its weekly profile ("Prises de Bec"), its famous sections of press clippings (typos and malaproprisms found in the French press) "rue des petites perles" and "à travers la presse déchaînée", its two most absurd or incomprehensible sentences of the week by politicians the "mur du çon" and the "noix d'honneur", as well as its infamous "Sur l'Album de la Comtesse" section of hilarious cryptic spoonerisms. During the 1960s, André Ribaud and the cartoonist Moisan created a series La Cour which was a parody of Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon's Memoirs on the Reign of Louis XIV. Charles De Gaulle was turned into the king, and the deputies and the senators into courtiers. Thus, in La Cour, François Mitterand became the ever scheming count of Château-Chinon. In La Cour, the king would address his subjects through the mean of the étranges lucarnes (strange windows) an allusion to television. The word étranges lucarnes is still in use nowadays in France to refer derogatorily to television. After the death of De Gaulle, La Cour became La Régence with Georges Pompidou being the regent. This followed the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, which also extend into the Regency of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans that followed the death of Louis XIV. After the death of Georges Pompidou, La Régence was stopped.

The Canard also reports on topics affecting the general population: scandals in industries (workforce, safety issues), miscarriages of justice, bad behavior of public administrations and services...

As with the British satirical magazine Private Eye, it has its own language, jargon and style. In particular, it has nicknames for politicians and personnalities. Some examples include:

As of 2004, the publisher of the Canard is Michel Gaillard, and the head editors are Claude Angeli and Erik Emptaz. The Canard's cartoonists include:

Past cartoonists included:

It also publishes a quarterly magazine, Les Dossiers du Canard, dedicated to one subject, usually one affecting French society, or world events as seen from a French perspective.

[edit] Scandals

[edit] The "Plumbers' affair"

On December 3 1973, policemen of the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST), disguised as plumbers, were caught trying to install a spy microphone in the directorial office of Le Canard. The resulting scandal forced Interior Minister Raymond Marcellin to leave the government, though it is said that Marcellin was a scapegoat for other members of the government, especially the Defense Minister, who was intent on knowing the identities of informers for the newspaper.

[edit] The Robert Boulin affair

A series of articles accusing long-serving Gaullist minister and possible Prime Ministerial candidate Robert Boulin of involvement in dubious real estate deals was followed by Boulin's mysterious death, presumed to be suicide. Following his death, major officials publicly accused Le Canard enchaîné of being morally responsible for Boulin's death, and there were broad hints the government might use the reaction to the Boulin death to seek stricter libel laws, as was done in the 1930s after the suicide of Roger Salengro.

Jacques Chaban-Delmas, then President of the National Assembly, who had been politically identified with Boulin for many years, told a special memorial session of the assembly that is should "draw the lessons of this tragedy, of this assassination." After meeting with President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Prime Minister Raymond Barre called for "meditation upon the consequences of certain ignominies," and spoke of "a baseness." President Giscard d'Estaing also added to the criticism: Boulin, he said, "was unable to resist the campaign of harassment he was subjected to. Public opinion should severely condemn any other similar campaigns."

[edit] Famous investigations

[edit] Ownership

The Canard is published by Les Éditions Maréchal - Le Canard Enchaîné (Maurice and Jeanne Maréchal founded the Canard), which is privately owned; the main associates are Michel Gaillard (CEO and director of publication), André Escaro, Nicolas Brimo, Erik Emptaz and employees of the newspaper.

[edit] Le Canard Enchaîné in popular culture

  • In the film L'Armée des Ombres, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, the character Luc Jardie (played by Paul Meurisse) while in London during the Occupation of France during World War II that his fellow countrymen will be truly liberated when they will be able to see American films and reread Le Canard Enchaîné, alluding to the censorship of the Vichy Regime.
  • In the TV film Notable donc coupable(2007) (translation: Well-to-do thus guilty), the fictional weekly Le Canardeur is modeled after Le Canard Enchaîné.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Laurent Martin Le Canard Enchaîné Flammarion, 2001 ISBN 2080680412

[edit] External links