01 - Interdits. Tabous, transgressions, censures
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Gilles Feyel
Aux origines de l’éthique des journalistes : Théophraste Renaudot et ses premiers discours éditoriaux (1631-1633)
Le Temps des médias n°1, automne 2003, p.175-189.From the outset, journalism in France was marked by attempts to define its role in society and to prescribe some professional guidelines. Renaudot, in the prefaces to his Gazette, stipulated how these might help to keep both the State, and the reading public, at a distance. Whether such attempts proved realistic in the circumstances of the time is of secondary importance. The key issue was to adopt the stance of independence, by striving after the truth. However astute Renaudot’s insights about the need to check sources, of the danger the journalist runs of being blinded by his proximity to events, he had to face up to the disapproval of readers who accused him of bias and taking sides at a time of political discord as Louis XIII and Richelieu sought to implement their policies.
