France's Forgotten Journalist

Florence [Aubenas] was the beneficiary of strong media involvement because she is a journalist

Paulo A Paranagua reports Corinne Vallerent as saying last October, as the glitterati of Paree joined for a tear fest for Ingrid Betancourt, a French hostage held by Columbian rebels (needless to say, the article's final sentence has singer Renaud discover that the bottom line of the tragic situation is that the culprit is… American dollars).

As for Aubenas herself (who recently decided to quit Libération with three colleagues for principled monetary grounds), her latest book has to do with an infamous pedophilia trial in France (which evolved into in a scandal in its own right when it was learned that for the French justice ministry had botched the investigation, condemning several innocent people). Regarding her time as a hostage in Iraq, strangely enough, she has never written a book about that experience.

When Jacques Chirac spoke about the release of Florence Aubenas in June 2005 (read about the mysteries surrounding the release of the French journalist and of Hussein Hannoun), the president added that he hoped that this would not let the French forget France's other hostages throughout the world, the example he chose to mention being Ingrid Betancourt (who has spent now four Christmases in captivity in Columbia's jungles; whose husband has nominated the disappeared woman as candidate for president of Columbia; who, as explained in Jacques Thomet's Ingrid Betancourt, was the object of an Indiana Jones-type secret rescue mission [Opération 14 juillet] in 2003; and whose friend, Clara Rojas, is little heard of in France although she vanished on the same trip as Ingrid).

What was important, though, was the vanished journalist whom Chirac did not mention.

On the 150th day of the Aubenas kidnapping, 150 ships gathered in Marseille, reports Patrice Claude, and for the 170th day, a banner was due to be unveiled atop the Mont Blanc. At one point, an Airbus A380 carried her and Hannoun's names on its flanks.

Le Monde marked the hundredth day of the disappearance of Florence Aubenas with an opinion piece on its front page by her mother Jacqueline, accompanied inside by Giuliana Sgrena's letter to Florence and her chauffeur.

Besides saying she will never feel totally free until the fate of Nicola Calipari's death is cleared up (apparently she doesn't read the news, but then again that would be the type of news that newspapers like hers would not report — no, what Sgrena means is that she won't rest until it is determined that the Italian secret serviceman's death is irrefutably seen as an integral part of Uncle Sam's illegal, reprehensible, and criminal venture in Iraq), the Italian (cough) journalist wrote:

I ignore who your kidnappers are, but even the most ferocious of warriors can not remain insensitive to these calls [to free you]. If they truly want the liberation of Iraq, they cannot deprive Iraqis from their freedom of information. Because our only objective is that to inform, to make the world aware of the suffering of the Iraqi people under the occupation. The kidnappers they too will understand that, you will make them understand, I am sure of it.

My destiny crossed yours, the people who demonstrated for our freedom and for that of Iraq on the squares of Rome and Paris made no distinction. Florence, Hussein, Giuliana and, now, the Romanian journalists.

The Romanian journalists? Yes, the French media never made much of it, but for almost two months, three Romanian journalists went missing in Baghdad. (In fact, the media made so little of this kidnapping that the RSF page and the Sgrena letter were the first place and the first time I heard of it.)

Meanwhile, there is a missing French reporter who has been largely forgotten in the deal. His photo is missing from the posters "at every step, in every city", and even with an association devoted to him, there is nowhere as much media hoopla as there is for Florence.

Although every so often, some noise arises for Guy-André Kieffer (notably when an Ivory Coast officer was arrested in early February and when those responsible for his kidnapping seemed to have been identified in early September), the level of decibels is nowhere near that for Aubenas or that for Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, the first two French reporters to be kidnapped by "ferocious warriors". Just see the difference in the mobilisation for Aubenas and in the demonstration for Kieffer.

France on Friday [April 15, 2005] showed its support for a French reporter and her Iraqi interpreter taken hostage in Baghdad 100 days ago with torch-lit rallies, messages of support in the media and balloons.

The country's newspapers ran front-page headlines, television networks used corner logos and radio stations broadcast messages of support to mark the 100th day in captivity for reporter Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanun al-Saadi. …

On Saturday, 100,000 balloons [were] released in 100 cities across the country in a sign of support for the reporting duo.

Compare with:

Members of Reporters without Borders (RSF) on Friday threw buckets of liquid chocolate at the gates of the Ivorian embassy in Paris, demanding information about a journalist who vanished in Abidjan a year ago.

"We're throwing chocolate because it's the government's 'slush fund' and everyone knows that (Ivorian) President Laurent Gbagbo is responsible for the disappearance of Guy-André," RSF secretary general Robert Menard told AFP.

Guy-André Kieffer, a Franco-Canadian independent journalist, disappeared from a crowded shopping mall in Ivory Coast's commercial hub Abidjan in April last year.

The members of the international, Paris-based media watchdog group, wearing white jumpsuits, threw about 10 buckets of liquid chocolate at the embassy's gates and then stuck fake dollar bills into the sticky mess.

"Truth for Guy-André!" they shouted.

As for the first anniversary of GAK's disappearance, as Eric Fottorino pointed out, it was passed over in silence.

What might seem to account for the difference?

Well, a cynic (or a realist) might say that when tragedies and scandals (or would-be scandals) concern or involve the Yankee bogeyman, French politicians, media outlets, and common citizens make a big deal out of it. When tragedies and scandals (or would-be tragedies and scandals) — at least the international kind — touch French leaders (in this case, blood for cocoa), there is much less pressure to go to the same extent as with l'Oncle Sam.

A rare letter to the editor in Le Monde said as much in February 2005, mentioning the many links between France's élite and the corrupt politicians off Abidjan. (Unfortunately, Aline Richard's letter to the editor amounted to nothing but a token article.)

Two journalists. Two people lost from sight trapped in those so numerous conflicts, where journalist rhymes with pest. … Florence, Guy-André: two experienced professionals victims of "work-related accidents".

If the two situations are so similar, why then such a difference in their treatment? French authorities mobilized with no second thoughts for Florence Aubenas. That is normal, legitiamate, expected. It should have been the same for Guy-André. So what happened?…

Since [the first days of Kieffer's disappearance], French authorities have not "moved heaven and earth to learn the truth about the disappearance of Guy-André Kieffer", as President Chirac promised us. On the contrary.…

Double standards. And for other reasons, the same inequality has shown itself in the media's treatment of the two cases. As friends of Guy-André and as journalists, we have trouble living it well. Put yourself in our shoes. Taking a stand besides the posters of Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun all over the Paris métro, we are members of that sacred union to save them, which brings together prestigious journalists, politicians, artists, and business leaders. Then, a malaise sets in. Why, instead of the advertisement in the poster next to theirs, is there not a portrait of Guy-André? Are there two categories of countries in which to disappear, the "good" ones and the "bad" ones?

In the latter, France participates actively in the local political games, has interests to defend, and doesn't want to make waves. No exit from the crisis, no future in Ivory Coast without Laurent Gbagbo, who must be preserved, as our leaders, or at least an important part of them, have concluded. Ivory Coast's president has sure friends in Paris, on the right, on the left, on the sidelines and in the cabinets. Those pillars of support never fail to weaken, no matter the régime's corruption, the death squads, the numerous abusess denounced by the UN and, previously, by journalists such as Guy-André Kieffer. It has been more than [850] days since GAK disappeared. We want him not to be forgotten.