Jean-Noël Jeanneney (born 2 April 1942, in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

) is a French

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He is the son of Jean-Marcel Jeanneney and the grandson of Jules Jeanneney, both important figures in French politics.

Education

After his secondary schooling in Grenoble, Jeanneney studied in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Beginning at the ''rue d'Ulm'' campus of the ''

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

'', he later studied at the '' Institut d'études politiques de Paris (IEP)'' (lit. "Paris Institute of Political Studies"). He earned his doctorate in letters and passed his ''

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

'' (a competitive examination) in history.

Media studies

Jeanneney specialized in media history, an area which he helped pioneer. He took interest in the evolution of print media (

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s and

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

s), of

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

, and of

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. He taught at the University of Paris X: Nanterre until 1977. He was also named '' maître de conférences'', and then, in 1979, ''professeur des universités'' at the ''IEP''. It was there that he oversaw research on the history of the press.

Involvement in radio and television

Jeanneney subsequently changed his focus, from external study to actual participation in

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

. Specifically, he was president and general manager of

Radio France Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...

from 1982 to 1986 and afterwards worked in television, in particular for a history channel on

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

Political career

In politics, Jeanneney is very close to the Socialist Party. *1991–1992: junior minister of Exterior

Commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

(under

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Édith Cresson) *1992–1993: junior minister of Communication (under Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy) *1992–1998: member of the ''

conseil régional A regional council () is the elected assembly of a region of France. History Regional councils were created by law on 5 July 1972. Originally they were simply consultative bodies consisting of the region's parliamentary representatives plus an ...

'' of the

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...

'' région'' With Élisabeth Guigou, he has been co-president of the

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

''Europartenaires'' since 1998.

President of the National Library of France

From 2002 to 2007, Jeanneney was president of the ''

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

''. In this capacity, he was noted for his opposition to Google Book Search. Since making his objections known, he has been looking to develop a

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an digitization program to be run by governmental authorities.

Published works

Jean-Noël Jeanneney has published works on media history, other works of history, and essays on various subjects. He has written prefaces for several works, which are not included on the list. *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''François de Wendel en république : l'argent et le pouvoir (1914-1940)'' hesis Seuil, Paris, 1976. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''L'Argent caché : milieux d'affaires et pouvoirs politiques dans la France du XX^e siècle'', Fayard, Paris, 1981. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''Échec à Panurge : l'audiovisuel public au service de la différence'', Seuil, Paris, 1986. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''Une histoire des médias, des origines à nos jours'', Points, Paris, 1990 (republished 4 times). *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''L'Avenir vient de loin'', Seuil, Paris, 1994. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, with Agnès Chauveau, ''L'Écho du siècle : dictionnaire de la radio et de la télévision'', Hachette, Arte, La Cinquième, Paris, 1999. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''Le duel : une passion française (1789-1914)'', Seuil, Paris, 2004. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''Clemenceau : portrait d'un homme libre'', Mengès, Paris, 2005. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''Quand Google défie l'Europe : plaidoyer pour un sursaut'', Mille et une Nuits, Paris, 2005. . *Jean-Noël Jeanneney, ''Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge: a view from Europe'', translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2007. .

Articles

*''Quand le sacrilège était puni de mort en France'' (When Sacrilege Was Punished By Death In France), in '' L'Histoire'', June 2006, pp. 68–72 (on the 1825 Anti-Sacrilege Act)

References

External links

Jean-Noël Jeanneney´s official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeanneney, Jean-Noel 1942 births Living people Writers from Grenoble 20th-century French historians Sciences Po alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni French male non-fiction writers 21st-century French historians