Gerard Biard, Editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo: Fake News Has a Bright Future Ahead

It has been six years since the Islamist attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people lost their lives and millions mourned. "Je suis Charlie" became an expression of solidarity, and Charlie Hebdo a symbol of freedom of speech and press freedom. How did the events of January 2015 change Charlie Hebdo? What is the impact of violence and threats against journalists on press freedom? And finally, is satire really allowed to do everything? Sven Lilienström, founder of the Faces of Democracy initiative, asked Gérard Biard (62), the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, this and more.

Mr. Biard, the Faces of Democracy initiative wants to support a better understanding of democracy around the world. How significant are democracy and democratic values to you personally?

Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst system except for all those other systems. There is no better way to describe it. It is not a perfect system, but it is the only political system which admits its imperfections and works constantly to improve. Democracy is not based on the principle of election by the people - because voting also takes place in dictatorships and authoritarian regimes; rather it is about establishing, as a principle, that laws can be debated, discussed, contested and modified. It is for this reason that secularism is one of the pillars of democracy. Not all secular countries are democracies, far from it, but no state based on religious laws is democratic - neither the Islamic theocracies of the Gulf region nor the Vatican. Religious laws are issued according to divine essence, i.e. they are unchanging, indisputable and incontestable. They can govern both public and private life. In my view secularism, as it is...