Le Canard enchaîné is a satirical newspaper published weekly in France, founded in 1915, featuring investigative journalism and leaks from sources inside the French government, the French political world and the French business world, as well as a large number of jokes and humoristic cartoons. It has a circulation of 446,000.

Presentation

Its name itself is a reference to a newspaper L'homme libre ("The Free Man") which was forced to close by government censorship; Le Canard enchaîné means "The chained duck", but canard (duck) is also French slang for "newspaper" (in contemporary French usage, contrary to English usage, canard does not have the meaning of hoax).

The Canard is known for its independence; it does not publish any advertisements and its owners are not tied to any political or economic group.

The Canard is notable because of its focus on scandals in the governmental and business circles of France, though it does cover other countries as well. In the past, major French newspapers were reluctant to challenge government corruption, or pursue embarrassing scandals, unlike the Canard, though this tendency has now diminished. It publishes "insider knowledge" on politicians and "leaks" from administration officials, along with satirical cartoons and jokes. The Canard is in general well informed on what goes on within the French political world, whereas its international coverage is spotty and relies mostly on leaks from French government services and reports from the other media.

The Canard also reports on topics affecting the general population: scandals in industries (workforce, safety issues), miscarriages of justice, bad behavior of public administrations and services...

The Canard has a left-wing political bias, but is known for publishing incriminating stories and criticizing all political parties with no preference. It is also fairly anti-clerical.

As of 2004's, the head editors of the Canard are Claude Angeli and Erik Emptaz. The Canard's cartoonists include:

• André Escaro
• René Pétillon
• Cabu

The Canard has a fixed 8 page layout. In addition to information and editorials, the Canard publishes some novel, theater and movie criticism, as well as series of jokes.

Scandals

The "Plumbers' affair"

On December 3, 1973, policemen of the Directorate of Territorial Security, disguised as plumbers, were caught trying to install a spy microphone in the directorial office of Le Canard. The resulting scandal forced Interior Minister Raymond Marcellin to leave the government, though it is said that Marcellin was somehow of a scapegoat for a decision that was taken on behalf of other members of the government, especially the Defense Minister, who was intent on knowing who was an informer for the newspaper.

Famous investigations

• The Canard fought to bring to light evidence of alleged corruption during President Jacques Chirac's tenure as mayor of Paris. (see: Chirac's role in Parisian corruption scandals)
• The Canard made efforts to uncover the Nazi past of former Paris chief of police Maurice Papon.
• The revealations of the Canard on Finance Minister Hervé Gaymard's lavish state-funded apartment led to his resignation in 2005.

Ownership

The Canard is published by Les Éditions Maréchal - Le Canard Enchaîné (Maurice and Jeanne Maréchal founded the Canard), which is privately owned; the main associates are Michel Gaillard (CEO and director of publication), André Escaro, Nicolas Brimo, Erik Emptaz and employees of the newspaper.

External link

• Official site (in French)
• More on the history of the paper (in French)