Lilian Lepere claimed that the actions of certain media organizations put his life at risk while he was hiding from gunmen Cherif and Said Kouachi during January's siege.
#lilianlepere is a badass!
— alix delahaute (@alisque) January 12, 2015
Lepere, an employee of the business, was hiding in a cupboard underneath a sink of the printing plant at Dammartin-en-Goele, just north of Paris, when at least three television and radio stations reported that he might have been in the building.
'Journalists Need to Think'
As police surrounded the printing plant on January 9, French lawmaker Yves Albarello told RMC radio that an employee of the business was still inside the building — a claim repeated by other outlets, TF1 and France 2 television.
@BBCWorld He's right to sue them. The French media were reckless. They could have gotten him killed.
— MK Fitzgerald (@MKFitzgerald1) August 19, 2015
Lepere's sister Cindy also appeared on France 2, saying that she believed her brother was still inside the plant, and that they had stopped trying to call him amid fears it may compromise his safety.
Mr Lepere's boss was initially taken hostage and then freed by the gunmen, while Lepere himself was later released unharmed after the Kouachi brothers were killed by French special forces officers.
The Kouachi brothers, who stormed the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people. pic.twitter.com/p19l2isqOM
— Images (@vctv_images) June 3, 2015
Critics have said the hostage was lucky the gunmen weren't listening to live media reports during the siege.
His lawyer, Antoine Casubolo Ferro, said the legal complaint is aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of live reporting such incidents:
"Delivering information without careful consideration may lead to endanger others' lives. Journalists must think of it."
Spotlight on Siege Reporting
The incident isn't the first time the French press have been criticized for their coverage of the Paris attacks, with the country's media watchdog issuing 16 formal warnings to television and radio stations for their reporting of the various incidents.
The regulator, known as the CSA, accused the stations of putting the lives of hostages at risk during the printing shop incident and the Jewish kosher shop siege, where a live feed of the police assault was broadcast.
Seventeen people were killed in the Paris shootings, which included an attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the subsequent siege in Dammartin-en-Goele, plus the hold-up of a kosher supermarket in Paris.
On top of the innocent victims, the three attackers — Cherif Kouachi, Saif Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly — were also killed.
