Journalists covering the Yellow Vests demonstrations in France have been threatened, harassed and physically attacked by the movement’s supporters who accused them of lying; journalists have also come under fire from some political circles for allegedly encouraging protests

Unprecedented insults, harassment and attacks

A team of journalists of the LCI rolling news channel came under a vicious attack on Saturday [12 January] in the northern city of Rouen, as it was covering a gathering of the Yellow Vests supporters.

Several individuals assaulted the LCI crew, made up of two journalists and two minders. One of the security guards was thrown to the ground, beaten, kicked and taken to hospital with a broken nose.

The four LCI members of the team lodged a complaint and the TF1 group strongly condemned this violent incident.

Another LCI team was also attacked in Paris, a woman TV reporter was thrown to the ground and protesters tried to steal her camera.

The LCI website reported this and more assaults against journalists elsewhere in France.

Other incidents and threats against journalists covering the Yellow Vests rallies were reported by several media outlets the same day.

In Rouen, a journalist from a France 3 team was physically threatened and intimidated, the regional public TV channel reported.

In Toulouse, a reporter from the local daily La Depeche du Midi was also attacked and threatened while she was alone in her car. These facts come after many other attacks on teams of journalists covering Yellow Jackets gatherings in several cities in recent weeks.

In the southern city of Pau, a freelance journalist was challenged and hit as he was reporting live on a demonstration.

Journalists at receiving end of Yellow Vests anger for weeks

This adverse trend is not new in France and hostility towards journalists has been observed for years.

The latest attacks and recent threats against journalists follow dozens of similar incidents recorded soon after the Yellow Vests demonstrations started last November.

On 24 November Jean-Luc Thomas, a veteran reporter for French TV CNews channel, was surrounded by 50-100 protesters, together with half a dozen fellow reporters from CNews and BFMTV as they tried to cover a demonstration in the southern city of Toulouse. Thomas said he was spat on, kicked, before running away chased by demonstrators.

Jean-Wilfrid Forques, a reporter for BFMTV, later told the national daily Le Monde that the bodyguards who evacuated him at the time had “saved his life.” Shortly after, Forques asked to be placed under police protection following threats posted on social media platforms.

BFMTV head of news Celine Pigalle told Le Monde that journalists are being blamed for not depicting reality accurately. “However, this picture of that reality is the one in which they believe,” she said, adding “The proof of this is that some, mainly in the government, believe that we give too much prominence to Yellow Vests, whilst the latter consider that their movement is not being given enough importance or is not depicted as they would like it to be.”

These attacks against media in general and journalists in particular is not unique to France, but worryingly, is also been increasingly observed in several Western democracies with well-established media freedom, a trend encouraged by some politicians and extremists.

In the US, President Trump’s frequent references to mainstream media as “the true enemy of the people” peddling “fake news” have led to growing hostility against well-established and respected media outlets, who have seen some of their journalists threatened and harassed.

In Germany the media have been accused by the far-right AfD (alternative for Germany) party of being the “lying press”, a slogan made popular when the Nazis fought for power.

More recently, British journalists covering Parliament have been harassed with a Guardian journalist being followed near Westminster by a group calling him a “liar”, “traitor”, a “disgrace”, a “horrible little man”, a “lying little snake” and a “vile, vicious little bully”.

This very worrying trend needs to be addressed to prevent democracies getting more polarised and becoming more authoritarian.