The temptation is great, looking back seventy years, to see things in a museum way. L’Express, the oldest “newsmagazine” in France; its founders, magnetic, ambitious, talented; its historical signatures, François Mauriac, Raymond Aron… The legend lurks, and casts its long shadow. In seventy years, the press has transformed. Under the joint effects of the market, technologies, upheavals in politics and society. Looking back, things seem from another time. Yes, but. Looking more closely, we also realize, almost bewildered, what does not change.
Diving into the story of L’Express is, of course, revisiting the upheavals of the world through editorial. If it is true that journalism consists of writing the rough draft of History, then L’Express has nothing to be ashamed of its copy. But this story also shows us the doubts and debates that have plagued the magazine since its beginnings. In short, it shows to what extent the line of a newspaper, its freedom and its “voice” are an artisanal thing. Which requires constantly adjusting between the mission to inform and the need to get involved. On this question, Albert Camus – who wrote in L’Express – found the perfect formula: “The taste for truth does not prevent taking sides.” It is the tension between these two poles that makes a newspaper.
This Wednesday, October 18, L’Express invites you to the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique for an afternoon of exchanges and shared perspectives to understand today’s world and project yourself into the 70 coming years. All information is to be found here.