“Mind-blowing. “In a Twitter thread posted this Friday morning, the activist journalist for the defense of the environment, Hugo Clément, claims to have been censored after a speech delivered at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris.
Invited to an event on biodiversity this May 31, Hugo Clément took the opportunity to denounce political parties and some elected officials of the Republic for some of their decisions. Among these, he mentions “Anne Hidalgo to denounce the tree cuttings in Paris for which she is responsible”, and “Carole Delga to criticize her support for a motorway project which will degrade biodiversity in Occitania”.
A rough cut in the pictures
And it is on this point that the journalist complains. According to him, after having requested the images of this speech from the organizer, the company Inco, to share them on its social networks, he is redirected to the company providing the recording of the event.
After a refusal, then a request for compensation, still in the words of Hugo Clément, he receives the images of his speech “except for the passage where [je] talks about Anne Hidalgo and Carole Delga, with a cut made with an ax”. This is the start of the controversy.
But the cut, actually quite rough, does not resist new technologies since the journalist publishes just after a video filmed on a smartphone by a spectator who clearly shows the entire speech. He also points out that the inscriptions on the desk and displaying, among other things, the logo of the Paris City Hall, have disappeared.
The recording company pleads the technical incident… not very credible
Without directly accusing the Town Hall of Paris (“I don’t know who took the decision to censor this passage, whether it was a request from the town hall or a zeal of the organizers”), Hugo Clément slips everything likewise a small tackle to Anne Hidalgo: “When you are elected, you have to accept criticism and its free expression. »
The journalist cut short any technical excuse, pleaded by Blonde Media, by showing that several cameras captured the speech at the same time and adding that his portrait, present on the event’s website before his speech, disappeared from the post after.
The City of Paris denies any link with the organization
On social networks, several elected officials and collaborators at the Paris City Hall cleared the institution by explaining that it was not part of the Impact2 initiative. Contacted by 20 minutes, the entourage of Anne Hidalgo confirms this version: “It is not the city which organized this event. Moreover, there are these every day at the Town Hall and the Town Hall has no connection with the organizer, nor with the company that operated the recording. There may have been instructions given in this regard. »
A debatable argument with regard to the logos of the Paris City Hall present everywhere on the communication of the event, as Hugo Clément points out. There remains the position of the Paris City Hall, which retorts its link with this cut “is not a subject”.
Contacted by 20 MinutesInco and Blonde Médias have not yet responded to our requests.