The sequence, revealed this Wednesday, September 2 by the LCI channel, does not go unnoticed. On a trip to Lebanon to this day, a month after the explosion that ravaged the port of Beirut, Emmanuel Macron attacked on the evening of Tuesday to journalist from Figaro, Georges Malbrunot.
Particularly upset, the head of state accuses the reporter of ethical breach. “What you did there, given the sensitivity of the subject, given what you know about the history of this country, is irresponsible. Irresponsible for France, irresponsible for those concerned here, and serious from an ethical point of view ”, thunders the Head of State on the images. Before adding: “You have always heard me defend journalists. I always will. But I speak to you frankly. What you have done is serious, unprofessional. And mean. ”
What provoked the ire of Emmanuel Macron, according to LCI , it is probably an article published on August 31 in Le Figaro under the pen of Georges Malbrunot, and in which the journalist evokes an indiscretion entrusted by the president himself : ”At the end of his lightning visit, on August 6, the French president brandished the threat of imposing sanctions on political leaders who are resistant to reforms and to the ‘new contract’ he calls for in Lebanon” .
Faced with the protrusion of the president, many commentators have pointed to the difficult mission entrusted to himself by Emmanuel Macron in Lebanon and the risks that his unifying ambitions will overturn.
Incident closed
Contacted by AFP, Georges Malbrunot said he was surprised by “the virulence of this attack, which is unacceptable and to which I responded”. “I explained myself with the Élysée, for me the incident is closed”, added the journalist. For its part, the presidency explains that what the reporter is criticized for is not having given the Elysee the opportunity to react to information that called it into question ”. Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the incident is also considered to be closed.
During his press conference, Emmanuel Macron had already pinned the article, without naming it explicitly, by criticizing those who “write the worst nonsense on the subject without any verification” and by inviting them to “ask him the question directly”. Asked about the hypothesis of individual sanctions against the Lebanese leaders, he then denied this hypothesis, without completely ruling out, in the longer term, “a wider sanctions mechanism”.
The presidential volley of green wood has in any case aroused a wave of support, several colleagues of Georges Malbrunot and political figures taking his defense, like Albert Zenou, editor-in-chief of the political service of Le Figaro, but also of the independent journalist Gaspard Glanz.
