Laurence HABAY: Most French newspapers use cliches when writing about Ukraine and Russia

Zhytomyr — At the beginning of the week the French Embassy in Ukraine and the Kyiv-Mohyla Journalism School held a seminar called “Methods of work with international editions (digest). The situation in the media and journalism: France, Ukraine and Russia.” The guest, the editor of the Russia, Caucasus and Eastern Europe department of the French weekly Courrier Internatio­nal Laurence Habay shared her experience. The edition, which existed since the end of 1990, is part of the same group of companies as Le Monde, and is a digest of publi­ca­tions about the most interesting events and problems from all over the world. Our newspaper is among the few Ukrainian editions constantly observed by the journalists from Courrier International.

Habay’s visit wasn’t limited to Kyiv. She also went to Rivne, Donetsk and Odesa, where she met with public representatives. Just after the seminar finished, The Day talked to her about the principles of work of our French colleagues, their interest in Ukraine, and her impressions from the conversations with our citizens.

The media community is still discussing journalistic methods: recently, leading BBC managers and journalists claimed that they will abandon their impartial information policy. What do you think about this and how may it influence your work?

“It’s an interesting question. Personally, our staff and myself depart from the point that the Courrier International is a democratic newspaper based on humanistic values. They are obvious and organic for us. However, when it comes to the choice of information, which is a very delicate process, we can’t avoid the question: Why do I choose this material and not another one? Actually, we can show an absolutely different image of a country, it’s our responsibility. For example, I deal with countries that are quite remote from France, they are difficult and our readers don’t always understand them. Ukraine is even more complicated than Russia. It’s closer to France but we know very little about it: Who are Ukrainians, what do they worry about, which way have they chosen for their country? Serhii Bubka, the football clubs Dynamo and Shakhtar, borshch and Cossacks… They are cliches, but you should agree that it’s important to know about them. We learned the most about your country during the ‘Orange Re­vo­lution,’ which is only natural. We opened Ukraine then. It was a splash: the Ukrainian people showed their worth, which is quite rare. Until now our idea about Ukraine was mostly based on the Maidan.”

Ukraine is considered an important country from a geopolitical perspective. However, there’s an impression that the EU, and France in particular, don’t always realize it…

“When the European Commission initiated the Eastern Partnership pro­ject reflecting the principle of deve­loping good relations with the six former Soviet countries, and Ukraine among them, we published material from the Russian printed media, saying that Brussels had defied Moscow, which would see this policy very ne­ga­tively. Europe was supposedly trying to divide the post-Soviet space and compete for the areas of influence. Actually, we wrote about this.”

Would you say that journalism in general, and your edition in particular, is able to influence the decisions and actions of the authorities, like the French government?

“I don’t think so. As a journalist I aim to make our readers more familiar with Ukraine and the post-Soviet space. I think that most of our newspapers write about Ukraine and Russia using cliches, look at them from one and the same angle, and address only the sphere of human rights and freedoms. Certainly, it’s important, but not sufficient. If some oppositionist is arrested they devote a whole page to it. I believe that other news has to be shown as well. For example, progress in civil society development. This is another approach, a wider one through which our readers will be able to ima­gine the Ukrainian society, including the materials about businesspeople and culture workers.”

You had a chance to visit different Ukrainian regions. Can you asses the difference between the audiences you met?

“I was most of all surprised with the meeting in Donetsk. There at the conference I didn’t communicate with journalists but with people from va­rious social groups. Some of them were well informed about the current situation in their region and in politics in general: students, NGO representatives, the local authorities. They spoke about the main problems in Donetsk, for example, regarding gas, that it’s been over a year since President Viktor Yanukovych, who had promised a lot, came to power, the local authorities change but they are not honest. I felt that those people had their position, I saw that the audience was unhappy with the current political situation, regarding both local and Ukrainian problems.

“In Odesa I felt it the least, I had an impression that the local people were quite indifferent. The opposite of the audiences in Donetsk and Rivne. The most people came in Rivne and they were very confident.”

What are the relations between the editions and investors in France?

“In France there are some editions that can be called ‘the most indepen­dent.’ For example, Le Monde Diplomatic is a special newspaper that hardly has any commercials. Their independence is assured by their own audience helping the edition. The newspaper is profitable due to their help in the form of donations. There’s a nationwide satiric weekly writing about scandals and corruption. It doesn’t have any commercials at all as it’s self-supporting. It’s the most independent newspaper. There aren’t any completely independent ones among the rest. Our weekly is profitable though not completely independent. Investors have their influence. For example, now staff reductions are taking place. We’ll have to build our work system otherwise and sacrifice something. There are a lot of problems related to money. We have more commercial orders and we have to prepare special topics for certain commercials. We’re also influenced this way.”