Key ruling expected on the confidentiality clauses silencing French journalists

In an exclusive investigation published in March 2025, RSF revealed that at least 500 journalists in France have been muzzled by "silence clauses" over the past decade. To obtain severance packages, many news professionals must sign agreements that prohibit them from criticising and reporting on not just the media conglomerate that employed them, but all affiliated companies for an indefinite period. As France's media landscape is heavily concentrated in the hands of large corporations with diverse activities, these clauses are very detrimental, pushing journalists to self-censor on issues of serious public interest.

In February 2024, due to these clauses, Jean-Baptiste Rivoire, a former investigative journalist for the television channel Canal+ who now heads the news site Off Investigation, was ordered to pay 151,000 EUR to his former employer for openly describing in an RSF documentary how the investigative journalism at Canal+ was "censored, damaged, and ultimately eliminated" after the channel was acquired by billionaire Vincent Bolloré in 2015. Everything Jean-Baptiste Rivoire stated in this interview was already public knowledge.

For the Boulogne-Billancourt Labour Court, these statements were "likely to tarnish the reputation [of Canal+ executives] and harm their honour and standing." The journalist, however, argues that this clause "disproportionately infringes" on his freedom of expression. At the defence's request, RSF sought to intervene as a witness to provide its perspective on the case, but the court ruled that the dispute fell solely under labour law. The Versailles Court of Appeal will now decide whether to uphold or overturn this initial conviction.

It is difficult to measure the damage caused by these clauses due to the very nature of the silence they impose, which extends well beyond the case of Jean-Baptiste Rivoire. "These clauses are so vague that we don't even know how long we must stay silent. It creates a permanent state of hypervigilance," lamented a former journalist for the weekly Le Journal du dimanche (JDD) - which is now under the control of Vincent Bolloré's group - who, unsurprisingly, requested anonymity. This appeal is a crucial moment to defend journalists' right to inform the public and prevent a precedent that would place corporate rights above press freedom and the public's right to information.