The tribute is unanimous this morning within the press on the continent. Whether or not within the North African or West African press, most newspapers, magazines or information websites greet the reminiscence of Béchir Ben Yahmed, founding father of Jeune Afrique.
“It was yesterday, Could 3, a day devoted to press freedom, that Béchir Ben Yahmed selected to offer us a false firm,” states WalfQuotidien in Dakar. The founding father of Jeune Afrique truly died yesterday in consequence of contamination with Covid-19. From the autumn of his 93 years, Bashir Ben Yahmed has seen generations of African leaders, but in addition French. He knew Senghor and Houphouët, visited Hassan II, Jacques Foccart and François Mitterrand. Just like the Egyptian Nasser, the Ghanaian Nkrumah, the Congolese Lumumba and the Algerian Ben Bella. He leaves behind a media empire consisting of a number of media (paper and on-line) that can be liable for persecuting his youngsters, Marwane and Amir, as properly as his widow, Danièle, and his lifelong companion, François Sudan, the present editor-in-chief of Jeune Afrique. . ”
Press supervisor at 27, Minister at 28
In his early days, Bashir Ben Yahmed swung between politics and journalism. “Son of a dealer from Djerba, harking back to the Tunisian web siteRealities, a graduate of the HEC, Béchir Ben Yahmed was half, from 1954 to 1956, of the Tunisian delegation negotiating inside autonomy after which Tunisia’s independence. Throughout the identical interval, in 1955, he based the weekly L’Motion, which ceased to be proven in 1958. On April 15, 1956, he was appointed State Secretary for Data on the workplace of Prime Minister Habib Bourguiba. Benjamin from the ministerial staff, 28, doesn’t sit within the Constituent Meeting as a result of he doesn’t have the age required for the deputy. In battle with the insurance policies of Bourguiba, who grew to become president, he resigned from the federal government in 1957 and based in October 1960 Afrique Motion, which grew to become Jeune Afrique in November 1961. “
A visionary
“The demise of a visionary journalist”, exclaims Ledjelyin Guinea. “Along with his ardour for info, he went there with the businessman’s feeling, which was the opposite attribute of his character. So as to make such a selection, to start with of the independence of the African nations, it was crucial to be animated by a sure imaginative and prescient, the Guinean web site factors out. And the remainder needed to show that he was proper. In reality, he stopped along with his newspaper to good a weekly (then a month day by day) that counts and whose opinion and standpoint weigh on the French-speaking house on the African continent. Engaging and spectacular to each the ruling courses and the battered opponents or some self-adhesive intellectuals, Jeune Afrique has proven a singular longevity. ”
Journalism and political communication
“Bashir Ben Yahmed was a real pioneer of the African press,” he added WakatSerain Burkina. “It’s a sure Africa that has passed through this nice witness of our historical past,” Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum declared yesterday, praising the well-known disappearance. “
WakatSéra, nonetheless, recollects the principal criticism leveled at Jeune Afrique, specifically the publication of political commercials. “Many African heads of state have simply modified their virginity via JA’s columns. Nothing might be extra regular, says WakatSéra, particularly in these lean instances for the press. Along with being vital, the Burkinabé web site emphasizes, clearly marking the boundary between journalistic info and pure communication. Which was not all the time the case. ”
60 years of existence!
In any case, regardless of its shortcomings, regardless of the upheavals of historical past and regardless of the pace of the written press, Jeune Afrique nonetheless stays. And because the newspaper factors out: “Jeune Afrique was initially celebrated as a problem and is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this yr. An actual journalism faculty the place Frantz Fanon, Kateb Yacine and, extra just lately, Goncourt Amin Maalouf and Leïla Slimani have handed the awards, JA has left its mark on generations of readers. Its affect has even given it the title of “fifty fifth African State”.
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