Charlie Hebdo

Charlie Hebdo
TypeSatirical weekly news magazine
FormatBerliner
Owner(s)Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau (70%), Éric Portheault (30%)[1]
EditorGérard Biard
Founded1970[2]
Political alignmentLeft-Libertarian
Ceased publication1981
Relaunched1992
HeadquartersParis, France
Circulation~55,000 (as of September 2020)[3]
ISSN1240-0068
WebsiteCharlieHebdo.fr

Charlie Hebdo (French: [ʃaʁli ɛbdo]; French for 'Charlie Weekly') is a French satirical weekly magazine,[4] featuring cartoons,[5] reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist,[6] sceptical,[7] secular, libertarian[8] and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism,[9][10] publishing articles about the far-right (especially the French nationalist National Front party),[11] religion (Catholicism, Islam and Judaism), politics and culture.

The magazine has been the target of three terrorist attacks: in 2011, 2015, and 2020. All of them were presumed to be in response to a number of cartoons that it published controversially depicting Muhammad. In the second of these attacks, 12 people were killed, including publishing director Charb and several other prominent cartoonists.

Charlie Hebdo first appeared in 1970 after the monthly Hara-Kiri magazine was banned for mocking the death of former French president Charles de Gaulle.[12] In 1981, publication ceased, but the magazine was resurrected in 1992. The magazine is published every Wednesday, with special editions issued on an unscheduled basis.

Gérard Biard is the current editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo.[13] The previous editors were François Cavanna (1970–1981) and Philippe Val (1992–2009).

  1. ^ Robert, Denis (8 January 2016). "L'histoire de Charlie Hebdo est shakespearienne" [The story of Charlie Hebdo is Shakespearian]. Télérama.
  2. ^ McNab 2006, p. 26: "Georges Bernier, the real name of 'Professor Choron', [... was] cofounder and director of the satirical magazine Hara Kiri, whose title was changed (to circumvent a ban, it seems!) to Charlie Hebdo in 1970."
  3. ^ Pineau, Elizabeth; Lowe, Christian (7 September 2020), Raissa Kasolowsky (ed.), "Charlie Hebdo uncowed after attacks – but now with bodyguards", Reuters, retrieved 30 September 2020, Anticipating strong sales, the magazine said it printed 200,000 copies of last week's issue. While before it struggled to stay afloat with weekly sales of 30,000, the first edition after the attacks sold 8 million copies. Weekly sales have now settled back to around 55,000, the magazine said.
  4. ^ "Charlie Hebdo: First cover since terror attack depicts prophet Muhammad". The Guardian. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  5. ^ "2 vendors arrested for selling newspaper with Hebdo cartoon". Mid-Day. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  6. ^ Charb (Stéphane Charbonnier) (20 November 2013). "Non, "Charlie Hebdo" n'est pas raciste!" [No, Charlie Hebdo is not racist!]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  7. ^ Nuzzi, Olivia (14 January 2015). "The Charlie Hebdo conspiracy too crazy, even for Alex Jones". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  8. ^ McGrogan, Manus (7 January 2017). "Charlie Hebdo: The Poverty of Satire". Jacobin. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Charlie Hebdo and its place in French journalism". BBC News. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Charlie Hebdo: Gun attack on French magazine kills 12". BBC News. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Charlie Hebdo: They're not racist just because you're offended". HuffPost. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  12. ^ Gibson, Megan. "The provocative history of French weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo". Time. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  13. ^ Withnall, Adam & Lichfield, John (7 January 2015). "Charlie Hebdo shooting: At least 12 killed as shots fired at satirical magazine's Paris office". The Independent. London, UK. Retrieved 11 January 2015.