Journalists Alexandra Jousset and Ksenia Bolchakova received the audiovisual prize, while Victor Castanet was distinguished for “the gravediggers”, his book inquiry on the Orpea scandal.
By Brice Laemle
It is from Riga, in Latvia, that journalist Margaux Benn was awarded, Monday, November 28, on the 84th Albert-London prize for the print media. The great Franco-Canadian reporter was rewarded for his reports on the war in Ukraine published in Le Figaro. The jury, chaired by Hervé Brusini, praised “the singular pen” of the thirty -something, as well as “permanent renewal of his art of story”.
After telling Afghanistan for four years, Margaux Benn discovered Ukraine in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion. Without speaking Ukrainian, the journalist managed to restore emotions Young Ukrainians and women Starting to the front, to put words on the horror of the massacred bodies strewn Irpin and Boutcha roads or to narrate paralysis from the port of Odessa . “I had a completely external and fresh look, without pre-established idea. I had everything to discover,” she explains soberly in the world, still marked by the fall of Kabul, taken by the Taliban in August 2021.
“costly and perilous” survey
The jury also awarded journalists Alexandra Jousset and Ksenia Bolchakova for their film ” Wagner, the army of the shadow of Putin “. Broadcast on France 5 and produced by CAPA, their documentary makes the chilling story of the actions of the Russian mercenaries, on several fields of war, and which were notably spotted in 2022 in Mali or Ukraine. “Many people have taken a lot of risks to talk to us and allowed us to do this documentary,” said Alexandre Jousset, judging that “it is also their price”. For her, her investigation, “expensive and perilous”, could only be carried out with France Télévisions. The opportunity to reaffirm its support “for a strong and independent public service”, in a context of the abolition of the public audiovisual contribution.
Finally, the independent journalist Victor Castanet was rewarded by the Prix du Livre for his Les Fossoyeurs survey (Fayard, 400 pages, 22.90 euros). His investigation, published in January 2022, denounced mistreatment, negligence and obsession with profit at Orpea – world leader in nursing homes and clinics – caused searches within the framework of an open investigation for “institutional mistreatment”, an audit or a Plan aimed at cleaning up the group’s practices and finances. “It shows that information can shake things up and have a positive impact on society,” says Victor Castanet. His book, initially drawn to 10,000 books, was sold to 170,000 copies, and will be released in January 2023 in his pocket. “This year, journalism has tried to live up to history, while wondering about the injustices of our society,” sums up Hervé Brusini.