Journalist rejected by LFI: "If parties start choosing the journalists who follow them, it could lead to abuses," says a journalist from the SDJ at Le Monde

During its summer universities, La France Insoumise refused to accredit journalist Olivier Pérou, co-author of a book on the internal workings of the movement.

" If the parties start choosing the journalists who follow them, it could lead to a lot of abuses ," Isabelle Mandraud, from the journalists' association of the newspaper Le Monde , denounced on franceinfo this Friday, while La France insoumise (LFI) refused to accredit the journalist from Le Monde Olivier Pérou , co-author of the book " La Meute " on the internal workings of the party, for its summer universities.

" This is clearly an obstacle to press freedom. It's unprecedented for us at Le Monde . For a journalist to be refused entry to an event by a political party is a rather worrying signal for our profession ," she said. " For us, this is a first. Unfortunately, some of our colleagues have already been victims of this kind of practice, but we were rather used to this from far-right parties until now ."

According to her, the book " La Meute ", co-written by Olivier Pérou, is " a journalistic work ": " They have the right not to like this book and to criticize it, but it must be remembered that it has not been the subject of any legal proceedings ." Isabelle Mandraud continues: " It's a way of putting pressure on journalists. What right do political parties have to choose the journalist who will cover this or that event? "

In a response sent to AFP by its press service, LFI replied that " the principles governing freedom of information are accompanied by ethical rules (respect for the adversarial process, protection of privacy, rigor, multiple sources) ." " These were largely flouted in the work that Mr. Pérou devoted to La France Insoumise ," the movement continued, accusing the journalist of having " heavily defamed " it and of having " invented false information " about its internal affairs.