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PARIS — If reporters want to ask Emmanuel Macron about the gravest crisis France has faced in decades, they better hope he's meeting a foreign leader, or visiting a mask factory.
That's the reality of covering the French president. Alone among G7 leaders, Macron has not given a single solo press conference since the coronavirus crisis became acute. And he has given just one since the beginning of his presidency more than two years ago.
Macron's on-the-record interaction with the media since March has been limited to answering a small number of questions after meeting with foreign counterparts, or on the sidelines of a foray outside the Elysée Palace. He has given five interviews and only one of them, which took place this week, was wide-ranging.
Instead, he delivered four televised speeches from behind his desk in his gold-paneled office at the Elysée.
In one, he echoed a previous address by Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Days after the monarch referred to the popular World War II song "We'll meet again," Macron declared, "We will have better days."
Macron's poll ratings suggest he has struggled to find the right tone to connect with the French people.
Yet Macron is anything but a ceremonial head of state. Under France's Fifth Republic, the president is among the most powerful office-holders in any Western democracy, a kind of republican monarch without powerful counterweights like the U.S. Congress.
But Macron is also one of the youngest and most inexperienced Western leaders. So to stress his presidential stature and portray himself as above the fray of day-to-day politicking, he has favored grand speeches over press conferences. He also doesn't have a spokesperson or presidential press secretary.
Macron's distance from the media raises questions that go beyond journalistic access. It goes to the heart of accountability in a democracy, especially at a time of heightened French distrust and defiance toward the political establishment, including virulent hatred toward Macron personally.
His poll ratings — which have declined after a boost in the early weeks of the crisis — suggest he has struggled to find the right tone to connect with the French people. And in a system where the president does not appear in parliament to face scrutiny from lawmakers, who holds him to account if reporters are also unable to ask him questions?
“At a time when the French want proximity … he gave four speeches ... It’s incredible, I have never seen this," said Franck Louvrier, who served as a presidential communications adviser when conservative Nicolas Sarkozy was in the Elysée Palace, and was once asked by Macron to join his team. “It weakens his relationship with the French."
By contrast, Donald Trump, who branded journalists the "enemy of the people," has talked frequently to reporters during the pandemic. Boris Johnson has fielded questions from the media both before and after being gravely ill with COVID-19. And Angela Merkel won international praise for her detailed explanations in press conferences about the challenges of curbing the spread of the virus.
Business as usual
Right from the beginning of his presidency, Macron has had an uneasy — and at times combative — relationship with the press. To be sure, he has sought to break with the favoritism and cozy relationships other presidents have had with some reporters, and instill more distance. But his efforts haven’t led to more transparency
“I think he doesn’t want to be asked embarrassing questions and he wants to totally control his communication. It’s a significant democratic problem,” said Chloé Morin, who served as an adviser on public opinion to two prime ministers under President François Hollande, Macron's Socialist predecessor.
“This is the problem in France; if the president doesn’t decide to take questions he can spend five years without answering questions from anyone,” Morin said.
Furthermore, Macron has kept a tight lid on which advisers and Cabinet members can speak to journalists. None of his advisers are allowed to speak on the record.
He has also continued two long-standing practices in his dealings with the media: The transcripts of the rare interviews he gives to newspapers are reviewed and can be amended by his office. The Elysée also reviews transcripts of interviews by ministers. And his office chooses the journalists who interview him, not just the media outlet.
Macron speaks to the press on June 30, 2020 in Nouakchott, Mauritania | Pool photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
But Macron’s decision to shun press conferences and tightly control access shouldn’t be mistaken for disinterest in communication or animosity toward the press, according to people who have worked with him.
“He listens to the radio, he reads everything," said Nathalie Baudon, who served as Macron's communications adviser for international affairs until the end of March. "Some days I would get to our morning briefing and he’d have read more things than me. If he had contempt for the press he would be indifferent — that's not the case at all.”
The president even makes suggestions to his social media team about what and when to tweet.
Nevertheless, even taking into account the regal element of the French system and its two-headed executive branch, with both a president and a prime minister, Macron’s communications strategy has bewildered many.
Out of those who listened to Macron's last speech, in June, 53 percent found him unconvincing, according to a poll.
It is particularly puzzling given Macron’s success in turning around his fortunes during the biggest challenge he faced before the coronavirus — the Yellow Jackets protests that began in late 2018. Macron ditched his distant style, rolled up his sleeves, held marathon televised town hall after town hall across the country, and hosted the only solo press conference at the Elysée of his presidency so far.
Macron also seems to revel in the press conferences he holds at the end of summits, such as European Council meetings in Brussels, waxing lyrical and delivering zingers long after other leaders have finished their briefings.
Yet he has stuck resolutely to his strategy of very limited engagement with reporters during the coronavirus crisis — even as evidence suggests it is not working.
Out of those who listened to Macron's last speech, in June, 53 percent found him unconvincing, according to a poll.
“It is totally unique to do what the president is doing today in terms of communication,” said Louvrier. "It is an error in communication.”
Rising tensions
The weeks of coronavirus lockdown heightened broader tensions between journalists and French officials. With reporters forced to work remotely, their already limited access to officials was further curtailed.
They were repeatedly excluded from Macron's public appearances and given extremely short notice ahead of his events, as the president's weekly agenda was rarely shared by his office, or the Elysée hand-picked a couple of journalists to accompany him.
On one such occasion, Macron visited a hospital in Paris without a press pool — but with his official photographer and videographer. A short clip was posted on his Twitter account showing him looking up at a group of medical staff who were applauding, giving the impression they were clapping for him. But one of the staff present later explained that they had had a tough discussion beforehand and were applauding their colleagues' hard work during the crisis.
Macron speaks to journalists in Paris | Julien de Rosa/EFE via EPA
Unlike some other countries, France does not have a system whereby a rotating pool of reporters representing major news organizations accompanies him on events outside his office.
The hospital visit and other concerns prompted an unusual public statement from the Presidential Press Association, warning of an unprecedented deterioration in coverage of such visits, and calling for meetings with Macron’s press team to come up with a solution.
“On pools they tell us that they want to maintain their ability to call on this or that journalist and that’s a battle we haven’t managed to win so far,” said Alison Tassin, vice president of the association's board. “There’s a bit of a feeling of powerlessness.”
Given Macron's reluctance to engage on the record, some reporters have asked for a presidential press secretary or spokesperson who could at least be quoted as such.
Complaints extend beyond the Elysée. The Association of Defense Journalists (AJD) issued two unprecedented statements denouncing difficult access to information and other problems, though relations improved after a meeting with Defense Minister Florence Parly.
“There are too many talking points and not enough explanation points,” said Jean-Dominique Merchet, vice president of the AJD’s board, adding that journalists need more access to people directly involved in policymaking.
Meanwhile, over at the foreign ministry, reporters have had to make do without a daily public press briefing for years. It was replaced at the beginning of Macron's presidency by a written daily compte-rendu that often lands well after deadlines.
Off the record
While Macron has avoided on-the-record press conferences, he has lately sought to influence the political agenda with at least one off-the-record briefing.
That move was in marked contrast to his stance during his election campaign and early in his presidency, when Macron decided he would speak rarely and not engage in the kind of private chats with reporters that got his predecessor Hollande into trouble. The one-term president was widely accused of having confided too much in journalists. Toward the end of his term, two reporters published a book titled "A president shouldn't say this," based on private conversations with Hollande throughout his presidency.
But on June 10, Macron held a lunch with a few journalists, in which he discussed controversial issues on which he hadn't commented publicly, including racism and police brutality as well as plans for a political reset of his presidency. The next day a flurry of articles appeared in the French press, with convoluted sourcing that did not make clear where the information had come from.
Journalists watch a screen in a press centre as Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a working session | Pool photo by Dmitry Lovetsky via Getty Images
The situation had echoes of commedia dell'arte — the cognoscenti, political journalists and commentators could understand that the source was the president of the republic, but it was not so obvious to the French public.
It became even more absurd when Macron's communications adviser briefed dozens of journalists the following day on what Macron had said off the record. When asked, the adviser couldn't provide a clear answer on why the Elysée chose to spread the information so widely without attribution, instead of having a clear on-the-record comment from the president.
Communications experts argue off-the-record briefings can be useful to allow politicians to speak more freely about sensitive topics, but work best in combination with on-the-record events to get clear messages out to the public.
“Purely off-the-record chats by the president are complementary to speeches and press conferences, but that only works when there are these on-the-record moments,” said Baudon. “If you do them regularly, you establish a relationship of trust, and the conversation is cooler and leads to more understanding.”
While Macron may avoid press conferences, he clearly wants to be the center of attention.
Given Macron's reluctance to engage on the record, some reporters have asked for a presidential press secretary or spokesperson who could at least be quoted as such.
The French government does have a spokesperson — a junior Cabinet member. But they don't comment on Macron's actions or on policy areas that fall under the presidency — a vast domain that includes foreign policy, international gatherings and national security.
One possible template would be the U.S. system, which — although it has been altered under Trump — allows for on-camera, on-the-record briefings by spokespeople or top advisers, representing the White House or government departments.
However, veterans of French presidential communications doubt that model could simply be transferred over, as communications people in the French system are civil servants, who are not qualified to make political statements or comfortable making them.
Macron, wearing protective shoe covers, talks to farmers and workers next to journalists in Cleder | Pool photo by Stephane Mahe/EFE via EPA
"In the U.S. there are political appointees. In France that’s not the case, it’s usually high-level public servants who are called to serve in a Cabinet," said Jérôme Bonnafont, a career diplomat who served as a spokesperson under conservative President Jacques Chirac. "It’s a question of legitimacy; the only person who can make political statements is the elected official."
The only elected official in the French presidency is the president himself. And while Macron may avoid press conferences, he clearly wants to be the center of attention — as evidenced by his decision to appoint the low-profile Jean Castex as his prime minister this month.
A presidential press secretary who would appear in the media more often than the president seems about as likely as an imminent Macron press conference.
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