I had the chance to visit the Ouest-France newspaper’s printing plant and editorial office. In front of this beautiful industrial facility, we talked about technology, but also, and above all, journalism.

In the printing plant, the paper unrolls like a ribbon between the presses. It runs so fast that the eye can’t follow it. Suddenly, it’s folded between scrolling clamps. It’s fascinating, hypnotizing. We’re told how a newspaper is produced, like a river: information flows from the editorial office to coordination to printing to distribution, then circulates between readers, linking them together.

It’s like a river that never stops : it flows day and night. Every day they print in the middle of the night. Every day they travel hundreds of kilometers at dawn to deliver. Every day, paper subscribers get the paper for breakfast.

A newspaper makes society.

And a newspaper like this makes for a more humane society.

Ouest-France is a newspaper apart. Did you know that its sole shareholder is the Association for the Support of the Principles of Humanist Democracy ? Not only it’s a non-profit organization but also it is committed to the values of democracy and humanism. It’s so good to know that this can still exist today.

At a time when it seems that money is king, and every major corporation is being negotiated with the sole aim of making more money, here’s a daily paper with a circulation of over 600,000 that operates without paying dividends to anyone, and is also working towards a fairer, freer society.

The newspaper’s motto is printed under its title : Justice and Freedom.

In concrete terms, this means putting ourselves at the service of the reader, so that he or she understands the facts, can form his or her own opinion, and is therefore free to make his or her own choices, and is therefore also responsible for them. I quote Ouest-France: “Life is democratic when the relationships that bind each man to others within the various communities and institutions are established in complete freedom and responsibility”.

So, the editorial team is committed to,

Talking about everyone :

Respect us all (charter on miscellaneous facts):

And all (charter on the place of women) :

And to translate the world with honesty and realism (charter on the ecological challenge) :

But Ouest France doesn’t just respectfully pass on the word, it is also a committed newspaper that takes a stand in line with its values :

All this has given me a lot of insight into their choice to offer international news and very local news in the same paper. Almost a dedicated paper edition for each major town in the west of France. It’s no mean feat to design, write, print and distribute. They haven’t taken the easy way out. But they do it because they are convinced that exercising democracy and humanism on a day-to-day basis and close to home is intimately linked to the major debates that are sweeping the world and is what makes them tangible.

A truly inspiring visit. Thank you to those who welcomed us.

Lucile 

PS : Do you run an industrial production business and want to show it off through images ? Contact me.