Do you know Albert Londres?

On the occasion of press week we invite you to discover more about this emblematic character of investigative journalism, who gave his name to the famous Albert Londres Prize, which rewards the best French-speaking journalists every year.

Born in Vichy in 1884, the young Albert set up his baccalaureate in Paris and began writing in various newspapers in the capital. In 1914, his poor health prevented him from joining the army. Never mind, it was as a war reporter that he made his first feats of arms on the battlefields. The talent of his sharp pen was quickly noticed and he became a reporter for the major dailies of the time, which led him to travel to all continents. Buenos Aires, Congo, Tokyo, Beijing, stamps accumulate on his passport… Witness to the great problems of his time, he is interested in subjects as diverse as the abuses of colonization, the rise of nationalism or the Tour de France.

During his investigations he made two long stays in Asia from which he brought back a book, “China in madness” (1925), where he described with a realism full of humor the agitation that reigned in the country then in crisis. His second trip will also be the last: on his return from an investigation into the troubled links between the French authorities and the Shanghai triads, he disappears in the fire of his boat, the Georges-Philippar, taking with him the secrets of a final explosive investigation… Accident or murder with makeup? Nearly a century later, the mysteries surrounding his disappearance remain unsolved, but his reputation as a great journalist has reached us

« I remain convinced that a journalist is not an altar boy and that his role is not to precede the processions, his hand immersed in a basket of rose petals. Our job is not to please, nor to do harm, it is to carry the pen in the wound. »

Albert Londres