“I think in the future we will do more media education”

You receive journalists during Press and Media Week. Why is it important for young people to be introduced to information and freedom of expression?

To make them aware of languages ​​they no longer know. I have received journalists in my high school for more than twenty years. At first, it seemed unachievable, as they seemed so inaccessible. Since 2010, I have taken students to the editorial offices at France Télévisions and Radio France.

This is essential, because their curiosity about the media is diminishing, and this weakens their place as future citizens. But I find solutions. Before the school holidays, I invited Marc Chalvin, the author of Pigeons!which explains how democracy works through animals: pigeons, and a dictator crow. It speaks more to high school students than if I’m the one explaining it to them.

And you, were you able to take advantage of this system during your schooling?

I would have loved it. I really liked journalism. At least, secretly… I thought it took a special talent to do this job. Which I didn’t have. So, I never talked about it. Instead, I went to history school.

You seem moved…

Yes, it will be an eternal regret. Today it is too late. That would mean returning to a precarious status, unthinkable fifteen years before retirement.

Finally, isn’t your commitment to students a kind of revenge?

Yes ! I show young people that they can pursue their dreams. Especially during this difficult period of adolescence, when we can lack self-confidence. Then the high school students discover skills they never thought of.

On television news, the viewer only sees the presenter. In reality, around twenty people are working in management. This can spark vocations…

Where does your curiosity come from?

I never liked unanswered questions. When I was little, I couldn’t just say “I don’t know.” I was fortunate to know my great-grandfather and to have the answers to my questions about the First World War from a living veteran.

I remember asking him, at 8 or 10 years old, what the war was like… Talking to him saved me from looking at the past as an old, uninteresting thing. I am always taken aback by students who have little interest in history. I often hear: “Ah yes, I wasn’t born…” I answer them each time: “Come on, I wasn’t born in 1789 either!”

And your attraction to current affairs?

Since I was little, I have always seen The Chained Duck hang out at home. Then, I took great pleasure in listening to the show every Tuesday Pop Club by José Artur on France Inter. For fifteen minutes, he recounted the drawings of the Chained Duck and of Charlie Hebdo, it was great!

The cartoonist Charb, assassinated on January 7, 2015 during the attack against Charlie Hebdo, was actually your first guest at school…

It was obvious! In addition to being a reader of CharlieI discovered that Charb was born in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine like me. So I invited him in 2007. Before his visit, he invited me to the editorial conference of Charlie Wednesday.

There was the whole team. What a memory! Everyone was laughing, raising their voices or shouting at each other… At that moment, it was unimaginable to imagine that journalists could be murdered.

However, he was killed. How did you experience it?

Bad, very bad. First I heard about the attack, then that there were deaths, then we got the list. It took me a while to digest. Since then, every year, on this day, nothing has gone well. January 7, 2015 marked a break. The end of an ideal. Well no, I hope this isn’t the end. We must perpetuate their commitment.

You continue to bring in designers from Charlie ?

Yes, even if post-2015 has been a real concern for security reasons. In 2007 and 2010, Charb was able to talk about the drawings of Mohammed without any problem. In 2016, we welcomed the designer Coco. She was accompanied by bodyguards.

The principal at the time was very cautious, even preferring to cancel her visit. So we found a compromise and organized the exchange at the municipal library. Often, when there is a planned meeting with sensitive personalities, I do not tell the students or other colleagues about it well in advance. To avoid leaks.

The college of Samuel Paty, professor murdered for showing caricatures of Charlie, is next to it. Does the shadow of this attack hang over you?

I am not going to say that after the assassination of Samuel Paty, I was not worried when a person walked behind me without passing me… As a former student of this establishment, I found myself helpless in the face of the images broadcast in a loop on the continuous news channels.

I saw my college patrolled by police officers, with the title “Attack”. Today, the entrance has changed: they have installed a gate on the square to prevent people from approaching. It looks like a prison. (He pauses.) Since then, I have avoided walking past.

Do you still show caricatures?

Of course, I continue to take responsibility for what I do. I make available the caricatures of Charlie at the CDI, even if there is a drawing of the Prophet Mohammed on the front page. I’m not going to censor myself. That’s not our role.

Do the students look through it?

Yes, and reading sparks discussion. I leave it on the display in front of my desk. Every time, I ask them what they think about it. They may be offended or not understand the designer’s intention. Like this cover. (He catches the issue of January 7, 2026.)

It’s a drawing by Riss, where we see Jewish people hidden in a trash can with the title: “Happy as a Jew in France.” Students asked me if Charlie was an anti-Semitic newspaper. I explained to them the origin of this expression, that this drawing meant that the Jewish community felt less safe today in France.

What is a society that no longer knows how to read a press cartoon?

It is a society which is losing meaning – in the literal sense of the term – just as one would lose sight, hearing or smell, a society which no longer knows how to communicate. Studies show that the less vocabulary we have, the more violent we are.

Caricatures on the Catholic religion sometimes shock our readers. Do some go too far?

We can feel offended, obviously. But it is religion that is attacked, not believers. We must learn to take responsibility for ourselves and tolerate others, to live together.

As long as the law is respected and there is no call for hatred or discrimination, freedom of expression allows many things. From then on, it is the responsibilities of the editorial staff, the talent of the designers and the intelligence of the readers which will do the rest.

Should we name schools after Samuel Paty or Charb?

I hope ! Our society must think about how to integrate them into the history of our Republic. In the name of our attachment to secularism, to living together. I am also in the process of building a project in this direction.

I would like to name our CDI after Charb. This would be a strong message in defense of freedom of expression and the press. And a way to perpetuate his name. I’m not sure the students know him. I would be proud to go to “CDI Charb”.

You are precisely “the CDI guy”, in young people’s jargon. Do they still set foot in your home?

Of course. Just look at the call book. There are around a good hundred students per day out of 1,500. Sometimes, a student excluded from a course comes to take refuge here. Another one comes and stays on his phone, maybe reading… Others do their homework. That being said, we see a certain profile, often the most hardworking.

What are they reading?

Lots of comics. We must try to pull them up, to encourage them to read novels. Of course, I’m not going to order a 900 page trilogy, I know it will never be read.

But I always tell them that they have the right to skip an article and go to the next page, or put down a book and pick up another. But you should never stop reading.

The book is being lost in favor of the screens… What will the permanent contracts of tomorrow look like?

Good question! Ten or fifteen years ago, it was predicted that with the rise of the Internet, CDIs would become computer rooms devoid of books. It wasn’t my idea of ​​the job. And that never happened.

I think in the future we will do more media and information education. But we have to find a balance to avoid being in class all the time and leaving permanent contracts abandoned. Otherwise, the students will no longer come… This is my bad faith speaking! (Laughs.)