French press review 8 January 2015

The French newspapers are all headlining on the Charlie Hebdo attacks that cost 12 lives and traumatised the country.

Libération's front page is entirely covered in black with just a few words reading "We all are Charlie".

Le Figaro's has changed its normally blue logo to black today. The newspaper headline reads "Freedom assassinated".

Black is also the colour of L'Humanité today ... it's a jour noir (black day) for France, after all.

The headline of the deadly says "It is freedom that they've assassinated".

La Croix publishes a cartoon on its front page this morning. It represents a bottle of ink spilled on a white page where the words "freedom of speech" are written.

Even sports daily L'Equipe headlines on the subject. It has a cartoon on its front page with sports supporters crying and a score written: Liberty, 0, Barbarism, 12.

Why is Charlie Hebdo is so important here in France?

You'll find a nice article on Charlie Hebdo's history in today's La Croix.

The satirical weekly was born in 1970, after Hara Kiri, its predecessor, was banned by the French authorities. The leftist magazine was rebornin 1992 and sold up to 200,000 issues per week in its heyday. Charlie only obeyed one principle "humour is a human right",explains La Croix.

The weekly always tried to shock and push the envelope - in 2006 it published the Mohammed cartoons and started receiving threats.

That's when the magazine really became a symbol of freedom of speech in France, explains the Catholic daily.

"The journalists paid for this freedom of speech with their lives," concludes the newspaper.

Before moving on, you should know that Le Monde, Radio France and France Televisions have all pledged to help Charlie put on their next issues - to make sure the magazine doesn't disappear.

Talking about Charlie Hebdo's future, Libération swears that "Charlie will live"

"They killed Cabu," says the paper." They killed Cabu and they killed Charb."

Even today, it’s hard to see it written on a page. But have the attackers killed Charlie Hebdo?

"No," says the left-leaning newspaper, "Charlie will live."

It will live thanks to its readers, thanks to its friends. "They failed," declares the editorial. "By killing our friends, they made us stronger".

The newspaper observes that instead of targeting Islamophobic groups, the attackers decided to kill Charlie Hebdo. For the daily, the magazine represents tolerance, secularism and left-wing values.

Today all of us are Charlie, it adds. 

Le Figaro has an article on how France's Muslim community is reacting to the attack.

The various Muslim organisations were very quick to condemn the attack yesterday, says Le Figaro.

The French Council of the Muslim Cult issued a statement calling the attack "an act against democracy and freedom of press". But French Muslims fear of the consequences the murder of the 10 Charlie Hebdo journalists and the 2 police officers might have on French society. The umbrella group warned worshippers of "possible manipulation".

For a lot of Muslims, explains the right-wing newspaper, the attack against Charlie Hebdo is a tragedy.

"The far right is going to capitalise on this," explains an expert.

Some even worry that mosques could be set on fire, says Le Figaro.