When was the newspaper’s website launched? The world ? Three answers are displayed on the screen: “1986,” “1995,” “2001.” Murmurs are heard in the packed auditorium where the Great World Quiz is taking place. After a collective vote via mobile phones, the verdict has been reached: 1995. The festival-goers in the packed auditorium of the newspaper were astonished in unison: “Is Lemonde.fr that old?”
How to summarize eighty years of journalistic history in a fun way? This is the challenge that was launched The world as part of its festival taking place this weekend at the newspaper’s headquarters. Through two major quizzes on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st, festival-goers will be able to test their knowledge of the newspaper founded in 1944, while delving into the behind-the-scenes of the editorial office. The audience on Friday evening was faced with a team of personalities: Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, former minister and president of France Terre d’Asile, journalist Claude Askolovitch, sailor and president of WWF Isabelle Autissier and Jean Massiet, political communicator and streamer on the Twitch platform.
The evening was led by two presenters: editorial journalists Syriale Mejías and Emmanuel Davidenkoff. Le Monde editor Jérôme Fenoglio posed as a “justice of the peace” behind a desk. Three musicians played live commas and credits. Throughout the questions, the questionnaire allowed us to go back to the date of the editorial board’s founding (1951), to the arrival of colour photography on the front page of the newspaper (1983) or even to the coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. A return to history that marked Jean-Pierre Paraire, 86 years old, present in the auditorium. On leaving, he confessed that he thought of his youth in the 1960s, during his military service: “Thanks to my small savings, I read The world once a week and threw it into the sewer before returning to the barracks. At that time it was frowned upon in the army…”.
“An involuntary scoop”
In the face of the shower of anecdotes from the evening, the audience laughs, gets excited, interrupts, argues. “It was like being behind the scenes of the newspaper, we heard so many stories”Mathieu Grénin, 24, confesses at the end of the questionnaire. The funny hoax told during the evening by Pascale Robert-Diard, legal columnist for the World and the editorialist Gilles Paris particularly struck the young man. This is the story of a fake news item published under the guise of a joke on August 2, 1990. Thus, two young journalists, one boring summer day, tried to entertain their boss by writing about the supposed poor health of François Mitterrand, at that time President of the Republic. Unfortunately, his supervisor did not notice the joke and published it! Six years later, in 1996, the head of state died from a long illness that he had hidden from the French. The two journalists conclude their anecdote thus: “We had a scoop, but it was completely unintentional!”
Self-deprecation was also necessary for this first test. “This questionnaire is destroying the reputation of the newspaper!” The director of the film laughs. World. The audience seems delighted. From one end of the room to the other, comfortably seated in the soft seats, the festival-goers, many of them daily readers, interact and think of the right answers. Like at a big family meal, everyone remembers the iconic moments experienced by The worldSome know more than others. Jean-Paul Descombey, 94, sits in the front row of the auditorium, reading the newspaper… since December 18, 1944, the date of publication of the first edition of the paper.
The evening also provided an opportunity to return to the newspaper’s flagship investigations. Immigration journalist Julia Pascual returned to her work on the failings of French rescue services during the 2021 shipwreck of 27 migrants. A speech followed by applause. A new edition of the Grand quiz du Monde will take place this Saturday, September 21, from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., with new guests. There are still a few places available here.
