Thought Police Force French Media Boss to Resign
29th January 2025
A French newspaper boss has been forced to quit after ‘liking’ posts on LinkedIn written by right-wing politicians like Sarah Knafo and Marion Maréchal. The thought police did their work: after being forced to self-criticise in Stalinist mode, he ended up resigning.
The alarm was raised by the investigative newspaper Mediapart, notorious for its left-wing activism. In an article, Mediapart ‘revealed’ that Philippe Carli, head of the Ebra press group, France’s leading regional daily press group, which manages large-circulation titles such as Le Progrès and Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, regularly liked posts on his LinkedIn account from Reconquête MEP Sarah Knafo, personalities from the Rassemblement National (RN), and reposted videos from the CNews news channel.
“The boss of Ebra cherishes the far-right,” concluded Mediapart, expressing its indignation. Philippe Carli, caught in the act of thoughtcrime, offered several explanations in an attempt to defend himself. First, he claimed that his LinkedIn account was managed by another person, with whom he said he was “very unhappy.” However, he then changed his tune and launched into a full-scale self-criticism. An article signed by him appeared on Sunday, January 26th in the nine regional titles published by his group by way of apology: “Yes, my hasty use of social media was clumsy. I’m sorry about that. This is not who I am as a man and as the head of an independent press group,” it read.