Thread by @PaulineBock

a thread on all the things Macron and his team have done/said to prevent the press to cover his presidency as it sees fit, because it is BONKERS

(I am translating them from this great article, in French: vanityfair.fr/pouvoir/politi…)

1. The Elysée's press room, which has been there since 1974, is to close. Journos from wires such as @afpfr @reuters learnt it when they were hastily pushed out one day, in the middle of their day's work

They will be relocated outside the Elysée, in a building close-by - where they will not have access to any of the ins and outs of ministers, guests, and the Macrons

(in the past, news have been broken accidentally that way: unannounced guests like dictators were seen by journos, as well as Carla Bruni before her relationship w/ Sarko went public)

it's a problem because of the time-sensitive + essential aspect of their work: these wire journos relay to the rest of the media, and to the world, what goes on in there. they fear it might now become "like the kremlin"

2. Macron's team regularly blacklists, and insults, journalists - calling them "shitheads" by text, excluding them from key trips or speeches

during the campaign, political journos from @lemondefr were "invited" at Macron's HQ where the team showed them in detail what "wasn't good" in their articles - journos say even Le Pen's FN doesn't do that

Macron has told journalists plainly that he wants a "sane distance" between him and them (3 Jan), and on 24 July, re the #Benalla affair, claimed the press wants to "become a judicial power" and "doesn't seek the truth" anymore

3. while restricting access for journos they don't like, Macron's team play the media against each other, giving favours to 24h TV channels (who will for the 1st time be included in the new Elysée room)

oh and the current press room, to be moved soon, was planned to be given to the palace's security team, led by......Alexandre Benalla (plans have now changed, one would assume)

this all sucks, because as a journo puts it in the article, it's "a present to the far right": if they win in 2022, they won't even have to kick the press out of the Elysée. Macron would already have done it.

so, yeah, Macron, a great guy, loves his free press, eh