First published in January 2014, Le Regard Libre, which has never changed its name or mission, has nonetheless evolved from a student magazine to an intellectual magazine on the media scene. It's time to take a look behind the scenes.
Autumn 2013, at the Lycée-Collège des Creusets, in Sion. I was then in my penultimate year of gymnasium, which lasts five years in Valais. This penultimate year was already devoted to preparing for the Maturité exams that conclude the final year. In my class, which focused on the classical humanities, debates were rife in philosophy and French literature classes. With a few friends, we divided the world between Flaubertians and Stendhalians, siding either with Antigone or Creon. And even though we weren't yet twenty, we criticized the world with a casual attitude.
Out of this kind of stereotypical controversy, in which we all believed so strongly, came an idea. Why not launch a monthly magazine to express our contrasting views on culture and society? After all, if our passions for certain aspects of the curriculum found a playground in essays and other presentations, the political or artistic material that obsessed us outside these walls needed to be kneaded somewhere! And perhaps this gazette, modelled on the French publications where the love of debate and dialogue between disciplines are paramount, would bring some nuance to our reflections. In short, the possibility of an intellectual journey, as a complement to our courses and an extension of our discoveries.
Three friends immediately accepted my offer to write each month for this title, whose name had yet to be found. With the agreement of my colleagues, I opted for an alloy of the freedom of thought that we wanted to fill our pages with, and the translation of the Blick on the other, a look signaling a journalistic focus on the times. We chose to be equally free in our approach to current affairs, preferring to approach them through timeless questions or sideways steps. Le Regard Libre was born, and with it its place in the great family of magazines.
Our first readership
The first issue was published in January 2014, in exclusively digital form, as were the following eleven editions. The relay of our PDFs by the lycée-collège in the form of emails to all students enabled us to acquire an initial base of readers, including among teachers. Some of them have remained loyal to us to this day, and we owe them a great deal - a basis of legitimacy.
The cover of issue no. 1 features Pope Francis. Not an insignificant fact, given that the author of the article in question, Loris S. Musumeci, remained on the team for more than six years and became my deputy, even though in the early years our worldviews contrasted sharply, particularly on everything to do with religion. My anti-clericalism at the time said nothing about my friendships - nor, above all, about the line of the paper, which never had any, other than to encourage the debate of ideas and culture in a pluralist, i.e. liberal, perspective. The article on the French Pope was about his visit... to Lampedusa. Now, one hundred issues later, the island is back in the news!
Priority given to debating ideas
The first ten issues featured some of our dadas that still regularly fill our pages: the major ideological and sociological demarcations that define contemporary debates, the evolution of French chanson, our literary and cinematic favorites... Leading figures in Valais politics expressed their views in these collector's editions. Debates opened that never closed. Personalities were created.
From No. 11, published in October 2015, federal politics became a more concrete part of our thinking. Three events explain why. Firstly, that month saw us analyze the first national elections in which we were able to vote. Secondly, a year after coming of age, we had reached maturity: my accomplices and I had just started university! In different cities... which, rather than being a disadvantage, turned out to be a great opportunity. Holding monthly meetings in a different Swiss town (a habit we've kept ever since), it wouldn't be long before we'd spread our web. The first thread was woven at that first post-bac meeting in October 2015, and it's the third event that explains the arrival of federal politics among the Regard Librea newcomer had joined the team.
The newcomer was Neuchâtel-based Nicolas Jutzet, who also provided the magazine's economic touch. Taking his first steps as an editorialist in our columns, he contributed considerably to the development of our small structure, and to the quality of the debates we published. He was soon to become known as the spokesman for French-speaking Switzerland for the «No Billag» popular initiative, aimed at abolishing the public radio and television licence fee. We never took a position on this issue: not only were opinions divided within the editorial staff, but we had never taken a position - even today - on any vote, unlike most traditional newspapers, which are not labelled «opinion media». Funny... but consistent as far as our publication is concerned, which makes a point of honor of being non-partisan, but 100% political in the sense of debating ideas.
Getting closer to you
Until May 2018, our offering per issue was limited to 28 A4 pages, admittedly less and less amateurish in terms of graphics. Le Regard Libre N° 36 marked the transition to 68 pages, a format still in use today, except this month when we wanted to publish 100! Another milestone was reached with the introduction of thematic dossiers from No. 82 in February 2022. Each month, we deal with a general theme - immigration, irony, democracy, neutrality, schools... - from a variety of angles, be they geopolitical, artistic or historical. On certain social phenomena, such as wokism, we have been relatively pioneering, even if this has never been the objective. We prefer to take the time offered by a monthly magazine to shed light on the issues at stake in a controversy, to highlight the paradoxes of the times, to comment on the permanence or evolution of human beings in the face of the major questions they face. We take great pleasure in doing so.
And it seems to be paying off, since, while we don't earn a salary (other than significant immaterial enrichment), we are increasingly read. Starting from nothing, in terms of funds, time or notoriety, we are now recognized by our peers, several of my colleagues and I are professional journalists and we count 600 subscribers in all formulas, not to mention sales in Payot bookshops and on our online store, the borrowing of issues in several Swiss libraries, the monthly visits of 15,000 readers to our site (a figure that has been stable for several years) or the many new visits via the Cairn.info, the leading French-language portal for humanities and current affairs journals.
Our numbers have never been red. And our future is made of pink. We've been working for several weeks on improving our graphic line, with the help of professionals. A new layout - in line with the existing one, but truly competitive with comparable publications - will be presented next January to mark our tenth anniversary. We also want to get closer to our readers and partners. Various efforts are planned to strengthen Le Regard Libre as the place to be to have a say in debates in French-speaking Switzerland and elsewhere. This program is so motivating! See you soon, and thank you.
Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com
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