The French Ministries of the Army and the Interior wish to keep the possibility of monitoring journalists–in particular to identify foreign agents–while refuting media freedom in the European Union’s (EMFA) decision to reduce surveillance on journalists, according to “Reporters Without Borders” on Thursday.
The French Armed Forces and Interior Ministries released a six-page memo on November 6; i.e., following the trilogue: “The Gathering of European Institutions.”
RSF reiterates its demand that France renounce this national security exception, and urgently requests a meeting with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin to obtain explanations of Beauvau’s intentions regarding the surveillance of journalists.
The memo, entitled “Contribution of the Interior and the Armed Forces Concerning the Consideration of National Security Issues in Media Freedom Trilogues,” lays out the two ministries’ arguments in favor of an exception for surveillance measures targeting journalists and their respective entourages.
However, some of the EMFA text’s provisions–which are designed to protect journalists from surveillance–raise concerns about the impact of these provisions on the investigative capacities of both police and judicial authorities, along with intelligence services, the last of which is a dedicated responsibility of the French government.
To justify their opposition to new guarantees at the European level, the ministries pride themselves on the quality of the existing French legal framework, and point to “the extensive conception of the definition of journalist” in the law.
The memo’s editors are clearly unaware of the context, and in particular of recent breaches of the right to confidentiality of journalistic sources–as exemplified by the case of Disclose journalist Ariane Lavrilleux who remains in police custody–and the revelations in the daily Libération regarding the surveillance of six journalists by the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI).
RSF, along with others, has long been highlighting the inadequacies of French law on protecting the confidentiality of sources, and has called for a revision of the 2010 law.
Moreover, the general argument is based on “concrete, operational cases.” In reality, these are primarily examples from abroad: Bulgaria, Moldavia and Lithuania. Only two “concrete cases” concern France: the “Russian and Chinese journalists” and two French journalists “under investigation in France for financing a terrorist enterprise.”
Ministries pretend to take precautions, referring to “acts detachable” from the journalist’s function. In other words, this premise justifies the surveillance of journalists with a presumption of guilt, not innocence, involving activities relating to espionage.
The Ministries are aware that France could be accused of encouraging the practices of sketchy entities or even entire nations that use spyware against journalists.
The cure is quite simple: Preventing the EU from regulating the use of intelligence techniques, on the grounds that this is the sole responsibility of member states. This is despite the fact that the draft European legislation aims to insulate journalists from these practices.
RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire said that there is still time for France to change its position in the prelude to the trilogue, to maintain the advances gained in the European text on the protection of journalists, and to not overshadow a memo, the aim of which is to defend the independence and pluralism of European journalistic practices.