Le Canard enchaîné (English:
The Chained Duck or
The Chained Paper) is a
satirical newspaper published weekly in France. Founded in 1915, it features
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.
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 French journals published by soldiers during World War I.
The
Canard has a fixed 8 page layout. Pages 1, 2-4 and 8 are mostly news and editorials. Page 2 is anecdotes from the political and business world. 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, along with H. P. Gassier.
It briefly changed its title after World War I 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 during 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 Mitterrand'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 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 "Journal de Carla B." (a section presenting in a hilarious way an imaginary diary of
Carla Bruni, describing her
bohemian-bourgeois reactions towards events involving her husband, President
Nicolas Sarkozy), 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 Mitterrand 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), a phrase De Gaulle had employed about 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:
- François Mitterrand: Tonton (the codename used by the Secret Service in charge of his protection)
- Michel Debré: L'amer Michel (from the popular rhyme La Mère Michel)
, the publisher of the
Canard is Michel Gaillard, and the head editors are Claude Angeli and Erik Emptaz. The
Canard's cartoonists include:
- Delambre (see http://www.delambre-cartoon.com/)
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.
Scandals affecting Le Canard enchaîné
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 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 it 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."
Famous investigations
- Cardinal Jean Daniélou's death in the house of a prostitute (1974)
- 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.
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.
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, imagines 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 (2007) (translation: Well-to-do, hence guilty), the fictional weekly Le Canardeur is modeled after Le Canard enchaîné.
See also
