Francistan : French journalist intimidated with sanctions for stating terrorist motive in Paris police HQ murders

A French journalist has been intimidated and sanctioned by his superiors for his coverage of the Paris police HQ murders, after he stated that the killer might have been motivated by radical Islam. 

Clement Weill-Raynal, a journalist who works for the France Télévisions group, says that he was threatened with sanctions for ‘prematurely’ mentioning the motive behind the attack, the French weekly news magazine Le Point reports.

Now, the Force Ouvrière (Workers’ Force) – one of the five major union confederations in France – is asking if it’s right to blame the journalist for simply doing his job. 

Weill-Raynal, who was one of the very first journalists to arrive at the scene of the search of the killer’s home, was also the first reporter to reveal on-air that the Paris police HQ killer, 45-year-old Mickaël H., had converted to Islam”. His reporting was broadcasted on France 2, France 3, and FranceInfo. 

The French journalist has told Le Point that he’s ‘scared’ by the turn of events

In a recently released statement by Force Ouvrière, the union said that the Weill-Raynal was summoned several times the day after the attack. 

The statement reads: “During the interviews, which took place in an atmosphere each time more stormy, our colleague he has been criticized for his “lack of control on the air”, in particular for having mentioned too early the “hypothesis” of a terrorist attack of Islamist inspiration, which, for his leadership, would constitute a “fault”.

The union also stated that the management of France Télévisions group had mentioned possible “sanctions” such as an “antenna ban” against the journalist.

Clément Weill-Raynal has repeatedly stated that he was only doing his job.

Force Ouvrière contends that the “threats” made against the journalist are forms of “intimidation” and “pressure” that are “unjustifiable”.

France Télévisions group has responded to the union’s statement, saying that the Weill-Raynal simply received a “call to order” for “instructions not respected” concerning some of the information he shared.

“On sensitive topics like this, we must be very vigilant, we must have a command of the antenna. Public service information has to be exemplary,” the media company added.