Lecture by Christian Chesnot at the Alliance Française
Journalist in risk areas: security and information
More than ever, the battle of information has become strategic to the belligerents, whether traditional armies or armed groups. In conflicts, journalists have long enjoyed a kind of immunity. This is no longer the case. Nowadays, we have multiple examples of journalists abducted, threatened and sometimes eliminated.
How does a journalist exercise his profession in these conditions? Does the information justify all the risks taken? How to remain safe? Where should the line be drawn between field reporting and the safety of journalist?
Christian Chesnot addresses these issues and attempts to answer from personal experience.
The Lecturer
A journalist working for Radio France, Christian Chesnot is a graduate from the Center for Training of Journalists. In the late 1980s, Christian Chesnot was hired by the French-language daily newspaper in Egypt: Le Progrès Egyptien. He also acted as a correspondent in Cairo for several French newspapers.
Abducted in Iraq on August 20th, 2004 by the Islamic Army along with his colleague Georges Malbrunot and their Syrian driver Mohammed Al-Joundi, Christian Chesnot remained in detention for 124 days and was finally released on December 21st, 2004. With a promise of releasing the hostages in exchange, the kidnappers declared an ultimatum to the French government: cancel the law on secularism within 48 hours.
Christian Chesnot has published numerous books : La Bataille de l’eau au Proche-Orient (L’Harmattan, 1993); Palestiniens 1948-1998 : Génération fedayin, de la lutte armée à l’autonomie (Autrement, 1998) ; L’Irak de Saddam, portrait total (Editions 1, 2003); Les Années Saddam (Fayard, 2003); Mémoires d’otages (Calmann-Levy, 2005).