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We will return in detail very soon to the two hearings before the Senate’s Cultural Commission — that of Jean-Luc Martinez on Tuesday, December 16 — and the second of Laurence des Cars on December 17. These two sessions, very long, indeed warrant extended commentary. But first, we want to focus on a truly shocking statement made by the current president-director of the Louvre, which concerns La Tribune de l’Art and, more broadly, press freedom.
She in fact became threatening — not directly against us, as she does not explicitly mention us — but against the person who provides us with information. In her delusion, she believes we have only a single source, which is obviously a first mistake.
Here is exactly what she said: “Too many sensitive documents are leaking from the Louvre, I don’t need to insist, in the media, it’s totally unacceptable, totally unacceptable. So that also means it’s a matter of a culture of security and responsibility, reminding those who work in this institution of their duty of discretion and reserve when handling sensitive information. It’s very clear; I have, moreover, filed a complaint against X because a press outlet published — this is not against the press outlet — but simply, if we identify the person who leaked extremely sensitive documents from the Louvre, there will obviously be action. It’s totally obvious.”
With the exception of the Van Cleef & Arpels report, revealed by Le Monde, which we do not possess and have never been able to consult, and which does not appear to be at issue here, we are, to our knowledge, the only ones to have used numerous internal documents for our articles, sometimes publishing certain pages as illustrations, even as PDFs. Naturally, we have always taken care not to show anything that could endanger the museum’s security (most of these documents are, moreover, no longer current). Our aim was solely, in each case, to expose the lies uttered by the president-director — notably regarding the absence of certain elements in the final drafts. This is indeed a legitimate objective of informing the public, and those who provide us with information here play the role of whistleblowers. Threatening them with legal action constitutes a deliberately obvious attempt to intimidate them and thus deprive us of essential information. Naturally, all our sources are protected. We have never — and will never — reveal who informs us of these abuses. And this information is, of course, verified and cross-checked as is normal for a journalist.
It is absolutely astonishing, and one must hope that the senators are aware of it, that the president-director of the Louvre, heavily responsible for what is currently happening in this museum, claims — while rightly challenged — to attack those who are at the origin of this awareness. How long will the president of the Republic, the Minister of Culture, the senators, and the deputies tolerate such behavior without taking the necessary sanctions? A piece of good news in this regard: the French National Assembly has officially decided to set up an inquiry commission on the security of museums — notably that of the Louvre. Laurence des Cars will therefore, once again, be called to testify — and this time under oath. It is clear that our revelations embarrass her: they will compel her to tell the truth, so as not to perjure herself too visibly.