LE CANARD ENCHAîNé

'''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.

Contents

Presentation

Scandals

The "Plumbers' affair"

Famous investigations

Ownership

See also

References

External links

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 movie criticism.
It was founded by Maurice Maréchal and his wife Jeanne Maréchal.
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.
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 are now more aggressive, in the past major French newspapers were reluctant to challenge government corruption or pursue embarrassing scandals; 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 has 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 it 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, its weekly profile ("Prises de Bec"), its famous section of press clippings (typos and malaproprisms found in the French press), as well as its infamous "Sur l'Album de la Comtesse" section of hilarious cryptic spoonerisms.
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.
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:

★ André Escaro

★ René Pétillon

★ Cabu
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.

Scandals

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.
===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 Enchaine 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 Giscard, Prime Minister Raymond Barre called for "meditation upon the consequences of certain ignominies," and spoke of "a baseness." President Valery Giscard d'Estaing also added to the criticism: Boulin, said Giscard, "was unable to resist the campaign of harassment he was subjected to. Public opinion should severely condemn any other similar campaigns."

Famous investigations

★ Marthe Hanau affair (1928)

★ affair (1930)

★ Stavisky Affair (1934)

★ Cardinal Jean Daniélou's death in the house of a prostitute (1974)

★ Bokassa's diamonds (1980s)

★ The ''Canard'' fought to bring to light evidence of alleged corruption during President Jacques Chirac's tenure as mayor of Paris. (''see: Chirac's role in Parisian corruption scandals'')

★ (a former ''Front National'' far-right MP, assassinated on February 25, 1994)

★ (1990s, link to French language article)

★ Affair Elf-Dumas (1998)

★ The ''Canard'' made efforts to uncover the Nazi past of former Paris chief of police Maurice Papon.

★ The revelations of the ''Canard'' on Finance Minister Hervé Gaymard's lavish state-funded apartment led to his resignation in 2005.

★ Article on illegal cartel formed by Bouygues, Orange Telecom and SFR to maintain market shares. The cartel got condemned to pay 535 million Euros in compensation.^[1]

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.

See also

★ Political scandals in France

References

1. Orange, SFR et Bouygues Telecom condamnés - Pourquoi les amendes ne vont rien changer

External links

★ Official site (in French)

★ More on the history of the paper (in French)

★ ''Duck Soup: What a satirical weekly can tell us about France's elections'', Reason Online, April 12, 2007 (an American perspective)