Cannes Chief Thierry Frémaux's Drama with Deadline Illustrates the Perils of Interfering with Journalistic Ethics
As someone who writes about entertainment, I'm often scouring "the trades" to see the latest on industry news to report on. One of the sources I look at often is Deadline, an outlet that's been "breaking Hollywood news since 2006," according to its own slogan.
Generally, Deadline's stories are more fact-heavy than commentary-heavy, so imagine my surprise when I saw that they were currently (pretty openly) beefing with Cannes Film Festival head Thierry Frémaux.
Apparently, after a pleasant interview with Frémaux, journalist Andreas Wiseman was asked to submit his article for a copy approval requirement.
Wiseman expressed discomfort with this request, citing journalistic integrity concerns. However, he was informed that copy approval was a condition that trade and French press stuck to when covering Cannes, that this included Deadline's coverage of the film festival in the past, and that the approval was primarily done as "a fact-checking exercise and a language check."
However, in a follow-up article also written by Wiseman, Frémaux "confirmed that he revises quotes but claimed that organizers don't remove questions."
Wiseman pushes back in the article by stating that this confirmation went against his experience when working with Frémaux.
In a quote, Frémaux defends himself by saying:
"There isn't self-censorship and even less censorship. If I'm doing an interview and the journalist accepts - and it's a French tradition to back-read interviews - I'll back-read and if I want to change something, I'll change it; I don't change the text of the journalist."
Putting aside the alleged claims that Frémaux said some potentially damaging statements about diversity and Cannes' inclusion of problematic filmmakers - which deserves a story all on its own - the conflict between Frémaux and Deadline raises a very important question about journalism as a whole: Should interview subjects be allowed to revise the journalist's content - whether it's for copyediting, or to make themselves sound better?
There's also the added wrinkle of Frémaux claiming that copy approval is an accepted French journalistic practice; Deadline isn't a French outlet, so it follows that they shouldn't have to follow French journalistic practices. However, if access is a big concern, it leads to media outlets bending the rules to satisfy interview subjects.
Wiseman actually addresses this in his initial article, asking: "Why haven't publications spoken up about the practice? We know some journalists hate it and feel diminished by it. But amid fevered competition for access, priorities can become warped."
What do you think of this debacle? Do you support Deadline's stance on exposing Frémaux and Cannes' alleged censorship? Let us know!
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