Jean-François Kahn (born 12 June 1938) is a French journalist and essayist. Biography published on evene.fr

Life and career

Born in

Viroflay Viroflay () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris from the center and from the Palace of Versailles. The town motto is ''Lux mea lex'' which is ...

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Axel Kahn Axel Kahn (5 September 1944 – 6 July 2021) was a French scientist and geneticist. He was the brother of the journalist Jean-François Kahn and the chemist Olivier Kahn. He was a member of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee ...

and Olivier Kahn, and son of a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

father and a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

mother. Having obtained a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, he started work at a postal sorting office, then at a printing works. He soon moved into journalism and was sent to cover the war in Algeria, undertaking the journalistic investigation that became known as the ‘

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affair’. Kahn then worked as a reporter for '' Paris-Press'', ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' and

Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pro ...

. He later moved to ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' as special correspondent for

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. In 1977, he became editor of the compilation of the ‘Nouvelles Littéraires’ and in 1983, was named editor of '' Matin de Paris''. In 1984, he created ''

L'Événement du Jeudi L'Événement means "The Happening" in French. It may refer to: * '' L'Événement-Journal'', a Canadian newspaper * ''L'Événement'' (book), a 2000 book by Annie Ernaux (translated as ''Happening'') * ''L'Événement'' (film), a 2021 film b ...

'' then in 1997, together with

Maurice Szafran Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...

, started the weekly magazine, ''

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed i ...

'', where he was the editor in chief until 2007. He often writes under the pseudonym of François Darras or Serge Maury. Kahn has taken a clear position on many media subjects, including: *Denouncing

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

in 1995. *Denouncing the intervention of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

in 1999. *Denouncing the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

-led intervention in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in 2003. *He adopted a positive position on the

European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

in 2005 but denounced the failure of the press to provide a proper platform for those who opposed it. *In 2007, he actively supported UDF candidate

François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has presided over the Democratic Movement (MoDem) since he founded it in 2007. A centrist, he was a candidate in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 presidential elections. ...

for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

. *In 2011, he dismissed the allegations of sexual assault against Dominique Strauss-Kahn as ''un troussage de domestique'' (literally, stripping or having casual, forced sex with a servant). He later apologised and resigned from journalism. He forged the concept of

Pensée unique "''Pensée unique''" ( French for "single thought") is a pejorative expression for mainstream ideological conformism of any kind, almost always opposed to that of the speaker. Originally, it is a French expression and referred to claims that neol ...

Partial bibliography

* “God, How They Hated Him!”
''Telos''
44 (Summer 1980). New York: Telos Press. * ''La guerre civile'', Seuil, 1982 * ''Et si on essayait autre chose?'', Seuil, 1983 * ''Les Français sont formidables'', Balland, 1987 * ''Esquisse d'une philosophie du mensonge'', Flammarion, 1992 * ''Tout change parce que rien ne change'', Fayard, 1994 * ''On prend les mêmes et on recommence'', Grasset et Fasquelle, 1997 * ''Les poèmes politiques'', Fayard, 1998 * ''Tout était faux'', Fayard, 1998 * ''Demain la révolution'', Flammarion, 1999 * ''Chacun son tour'', Stock, 2000 * ''Complot contre la Démocratie'', Denoël, 2000 * ''La pensée unique'', Fayard, 2000 * ''Le retour de terre de Djid Andrew ; Critique de la raison capitaliste'', Fayard, 2000 * ''Victor Hugo un révolutionnaire ; L'extraordinaire Metamorphose'', Fayard 2001 * ''Moi, l'Autre et le loup'', Fayard, 2001 * ''Les Rebelles, ceux et celles qui ont dit non'', Plon, 2001 * ''Ce que Marianne en pense'', éditions des Mille et une nuits, 2002 * ''Le camp de la guerre, Critique de la déraison impure'', Fayard, 2004 * ''Dictionnaire incorrect'', Plon, 2005 * ''Comme deux frères - mémoire et visions croisées'' (avec

Axel Kahn Axel Kahn (5 September 1944 – 6 July 2021) was a French scientist and geneticist. He was the brother of the journalist Jean-François Kahn and the chemist Olivier Kahn. He was a member of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee ...

), Stock, 2006 * ''Les bullocrates'', Fayard, 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Jean-Francois 1938 births Living people People from Yvelines 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French essayists French columnists French people of German-Jewish descent French male essayists 21st-century French journalists 21st-century French essayists French magazine founders