Enquêter sur les violences sexuelles
Authors: Buisson Charlotte 
Published: August 2024

FR. Jusqu’en 2016, aucune enquête journalistique sur des violences sexuelles commises par un professionnel de la politique n’avait encore été publiée en France. En ce sens, Mediapart et France Inter inaugurent, avec la publication de « l’affaire Baupin » le 9 mai 2016, un nouvel espace d’investigation. Au total, seize femmes témoignent dans la presse de faits de harcèlement et d’agressions sexuelles commises par Denis Baupin, alors vice-président de l’Assemblée Nationale et député Vert de la 10ème circonscription de Paris. Alors que les violences sexuelles dont les professionnel·les de la politique sont les auteurs ont longtemps été ignorées, voire invisibilisées par les journalistes, comment sont-elles devenues un sujet d’investigation légitime du journalisme politique ? Quelles « épreuves » (de Blic et Lemieux, 2005) les femmes journalistes politiques ont-elles surmontées pour intégrer ces violences aux préoccupations du journalisme politique, au point que puisse émerger une enquête de presse sur Denis Baupin ? Cette contribution répond à ces questions à l’appui d’un ensemble d’entretiens semi-directifs menés entre 2020 et 2023 auprès des journalistes à l’origine de l’enquête, mais aussi de celles et ceux qui ont couvert « l’affaire Baupin ». Ainsi, nous pouvons rendre compte des ajustements opérés, en termes de culture journalistique, entre « les affaires DSK » et « l’affaire Baupin ». Nous montrons dans un premier temps quels ont été les cadrages médiatiques longtemps privilégiés par les journalistes politiques vis-à-vis des « questions sexuelles » (Fassin, 2009), avant de nous intéresser à la manière dont l’expérience de la violence au sein d’un espace professionnel peut déboucher sur la constitution d’un collectif. Ce groupe, composé de journalistes politiques féministes, va faire circuler un ensemble de discours qui vont encourager le renouvellement des pratiques journalistiques sur les violences de genre et ouvrir de nouveaux horizons d’investigation, qui permettent l’émergence de « l’affaire Baupin » et servent la crédibilité des récits de violences médiatisés.
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EN. Until 2016, journalistic investigations on sexual violence committed by a political figure had never been published in France. With the publication of the“Baupin affair” on May 9, 2016, Mediapart and France Inter inaugurated a new area of investigation. A total of sixteen women testified in the press about sexual harassment and assaults committed by Denis Baupin, then vice-president of the National Assembly and Green Party MP for Paris's 10th constituency. While sexual violence perpetrated by political figures has long been ignored, or even invisibilized by journalists, how did it become a legitimate subject of investigation in political journalism? What “trials” (de Blic and Lemieux, 2005) have women political journalists overcome to incorporate such violence into the concerns of political journalism, to the extent that a press investigation into Denis Baupin could emerge? This article addresses these questions based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted between 2020 and 2023 with the journalists behind the investigation, as well as those who covered the “Baupin affair”. These interviews enable us to identify the adjustments made, in terms of journalistic culture, between the “DSK affair”and the “Baupin affair”. We begin by outlining the media framings long favored by political journalists with regard to “sexual issues” (Fassin, 2009), before looking at how the experience of violence within a professional space can lead to the constitution of a community. This group, made up of feminist political journalists, circulated a set of discourses that will encourage the renewal of journalistic practices on gender violence and open up new investigative horizons, enabling the emergence of the “Baupin affair” and serving the credibility of media accounts of violence.
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PT. Até 2016, não havia sido publicada na França nenhuma investigação jornalística sobre violência sexual cometida por profissionais políticos. Nesse sentido, ao publicar o “escândalo Baupin”, em 9 de maio de 2016, a Mediapart e a France Inter abriram um novo espaço de investigação. Ao todo, dezesseis mulheres deram depoimentos à imprensa sobre atos de assédio e agressão sexual cometidos por Denis Baupin, o então vice-presidente da Assembleia Nacional e deputado do partido Verde (EELV) pela 10ª seção eleitoral de Paris. Enquanto, por muito tempo, a violência sexual praticada por profissionais da política foi ignorada ou até mesmo invisibilizada pelos jornalistas, como ela se tornou um assunto legítimo de investigação no jornalismo político? Que “provações” (de Blic e Lemieux, 2005) as mulheres jornalistas políticas tiveram de enfrentar para que esse tipo de violência se tornasse parte das preocupações do jornalismo político, a ponto de surgir uma investigação da imprensa sobre Denis Baupin? O presente trabalho busca responder a essas perguntas a partir de entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas entre 2020 e 2023 com os/as jornalistas por trás da investigação, bem como com aquele/as que cobriram o “caso Baupin”. Isso permite evidenciar os ajustes realizados, em termos de cultura jornalística, entre o “caso DSK” e o “caso Baupin”. Em um primeiro momento, demonstra-se como os/as jornalistas políticos/as têm por muito tempo privilegiado determinados enquadramentos midiáticos das “questões sexuais” (Fassin, 2009). Em seguida, analisa-se como a experiência de violência no ambiente de trabalho pode resultar na formação de um coletivo. O referido grupo, formado por jornalistas políticos/as feministas, promoveu a difusão de um conjunto de discursos que incentivou a renovação das práticas jornalísticas sobre violência de gênero e abriu novos horizontes de investigação, levando ao surgimento do “caso Baupin” e aumentando a credibilidade dos relatos de violência na mídia.
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ES. Until 2016, journalistic investigations on sexual violence committed by a political figure had never been published in France. With the publication of the“Baupin affair” on May 9, 2016, Mediapart and France Inter inaugurated a new area of investigation. A total of sixteen women testified in the press about sexual harassment and assaults committed by Denis Baupin, then vice-president of the National Assembly and Green Party MP for Paris's 10th constituency. While sexual violence perpetrated by political figures has long been ignored, or even invisibilized by journalists, how did it become a legitimate subject of investigation in political journalism? What “trials” (de Blic and Lemieux, 2005) have women political journalists overcome to incorporate such violence into the concerns of political journalism, to the extent that a press investigation into Denis Baupin could emerge? This article addresses these questions based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted between 2020 and 2023 with the journalists behind the investigation, as well as those who covered the “Baupin affair”. These interviews enable us to identify the adjustments made, in terms of journalistic culture, between the “DSK affair”and the “Baupin affair”. We begin by outlining the media framings long favored by political journalists with regard to “sexual issues” (Fassin, 2009), before looking at how the experience of violence within a professional space can lead to the constitution of a community. This group, made up of feminist political journalists, circulated a set of discourses that will encourage the renewal of journalistic practices on gender violence and open up new investigative horizons, enabling the emergence of the “Baupin affair” and serving the credibility of media accounts of violence.
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