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{{short description|French journalist and author|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Short description|French journalist and author (1920–2020)}}

{{infobox person
{{infobox person
| name = Jean Daniel
| name = Jean Daniel
| image = Fernández de la Vega acude a la entrega de premios de periodismo Ortega y Gasset (cropped) Jean Daniel.jpg
| image =
| birth_name = Jean Daniel Bensaid
| birth_name = Jean Daniel Bensaid
| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|07|21|df=y}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|07|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Blida]], [[French Algeria|Algeria]]
| birth_place = [[Blida]], [[French Algeria|Algeria]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|02|19|1920|07|21|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|02|19|1920|07|21|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| occupation = Journalist
| occupation = Journalist
| children = Sara Daniel
| children = Sara Daniel
| spouse = Michèle Bancilhon
| spouse = Michèle Bancilhon
| education = [[University of Algiers]]<br>[[Sorbonne]]
| education = [[University of Algiers]]<br>[[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]
| known for = Founder of ''[[Le Nouvel Obs]]''
| known for = Founder of ''[[Le Nouvel Obs]]ervateur''
}}
}}


'''Jean Daniel Bensaid''' (21 July 1920 – 19 February 2020)<ref>{{cite web |title=Jean Daniel est mort |url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/culture/20200220.OBS25068/jean-daniel-est-mort.html |publisher=Le Nouvel Obs |accessdate=21 February 2020 |language=French}}</ref> was a French journalist and author. He was the founder and executive editor of ''[[Le Nouvel Observateur]]'' weekly now known as ''L'Obs''.
'''Jean Daniel Bensaid''' (21 July 1920 – 19 February 2020)<ref>{{cite web |title=Jean Daniel est mort |date=20 February 2020 |url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/culture/20200220.OBS25068/jean-daniel-est-mort.html |publisher=Le Nouvel Obs |access-date=21 February 2020 |language=fr}}</ref> was a French journalist and author. He was the founder and executive editor of ''[[Le Nouvel Observateur]]'' weekly now known as ''L'Obs''.


==Career==
==Life and career==
Daniel was born in Blida, Algeria, as the youngest of 11 children.<ref name = obit/> His father, Jules Bensaid, was a flour miller.<ref>{{Cite news|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|date=2020-02-20|title=Jean Daniel, Leading French Journalist and Humanist, Dies at 99|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/business/media/jean-daniel-dead.html|access-date=2020-07-11|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Jean Daniel attended the [[University of Algiers]] before the [[Second World War]].<ref name = obit/> During the war, he was part of a resistance group that aided the liberation of Algiers, and he participated in the [[Normandy landings]] as part of the [[Free French]] forces led by [[Philippe Leclerc]].<ref name = obit/> Following the war, Daniel attended [[Sorbonne University]] (studying philosophy) and worked for [[Félix Gouin]] as a speechwriter.<ref name = obit/>
⚫
Daniel was a Jewish [[humanism|humanist]] in the tradition of the [[French Left]]. He was a colleague and friend of [[Albert Camus]], a fellow [[pied-noir]]. In ''La prison juive: Humeurs et méditations d'un témoin'' (''The Jewish Prison''), Daniel argued that prosperous, [[assimilated Jew]]s in the west live in a self-imposed prison made of up of three invisible walls: the idea of the [[Chosen People]], [[Holocaust]] remembrance, and support for [[Israel]]. "Having trapped themselves inside these walls...," wrote Adam Shatz in describing the book, "they were less able to see themselves clearly, or to appreciate the suffering of others -- particularly the Palestinians living behind the '[[Israeli West Bank barrier|separation fence]]'."<ref>Shatz, Adam (5 April 2012) "Nothing He Hasn't Done, Nowhere He Hasn't Been." ''[[London Review of Books]]''; page 15.</ref>


⚫
Daniel was a Jewish [[humanism|humanist]] in the tradition of the [[French Left]]. He was a colleague and friend of [[Albert Camus]], a fellow [[pied-noir]] (French-Algerian).<ref name = obit>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/jean-daniel-obituary-rcvfh75lk |title=Jean Daniel obituary |newspaper=The Times |date=29 February 2020 |access-date=29 February 2020}}</ref> In ''La prison juive: Humeurs et méditations d'un témoin'' (''The Jewish Prison''), Daniel argued that prosperous, [[assimilated Jew]]s in the west live in a self-imposed prison made of up of three invisible walls: the idea of the [[Chosen People]], [[Holocaust]] remembrance, and support for [[Israel]]. "Having trapped themselves inside these walls...," wrote Adam Shatz in describing the book, "they were less able to see themselves clearly, or to appreciate the suffering of others -- particularly the Palestinians living behind the '[[Israeli West Bank barrier|separation fence]]'."<ref>Shatz, Adam (5 April 2012) "Nothing He Hasn't Done, Nowhere He Hasn't Been." ''[[London Review of Books]]''; page 15.</ref>
⚫
Jean Daniel was a member of the [[Saint-Simon Foundation]] [[think-tank]].


⚫
Daniel was a member of the [[Saint-Simon Foundation]] [[think-tank]].
===Publishing===
⚫
Daniel co-founded the French magazine ''Le Nouvel Observateur''. The magazine had already existed since 1950 and initially called ''L'Observateur politique, économique et littéraire''. It had turned to ''L'Observateur aujourd'hui'' in 1953 and ''France Observateur'' in 1954. The name ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' was adopted in 1964.<ref name=ph>{{cite book|author=Philip Thody|author-link=Philip Thody|title=Le Franglais: Forbidden English, Forbidden American: Law, Politics and Language in Contemporary France: A Study in|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W56vAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA290|accessdate=20 April 2015|date=1 December 2000|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4411-7760-5|page=290}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Weekly Magazines: Second in a Series on French Media|url=https://cablegatesearch.wikileaks.org/cable.php?id=06PARIS7635|work=Wikileaks|accessdate=1 November 2014|date=1 December 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Serge Berstein|author2=Jean-Pierre Rioux|title=The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GyhQAJeOZoC&pg=PA200|accessdate=21 April 2015|date=13 March 2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58061-8|page=200}}</ref>


===Journalism===
The 1964 incarnation of the magazine was when Jean Daniel and [[Claude Perdriel]] took over renaming the magazine and starting its best known phase under the name ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' as a weekly. Since then it has been published by Groupe Nouvel Observateur on a weekly basis and has covered political, business and economic news in France and internationally. On 23 October 2014, the magazine was renamed ''[[L'Obs]]''.
In 1947 Daniel co-founded the ''Caliban'' magazine, which ran until 1951.<ref name = obit/> Following it closure Daniel became a teacher, until he was hired as a reporter by ''L'Express'' in 1956.<ref name = obit/> Daniel covered the [[Algerian War]] for ''L'Express''; he was sympathetic to the independence cause and received death threats from the [[Organisation armée secrète]] (OAS).<ref name = obit/> He was interviewing [[Fidel Castro]] in Havana as news came through of the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]].<ref name = obit/> Castro said "es una mala noticia" ("this is bad news"), perceiving that he would be blamed in some quarters for the assassination.<ref name = obit/> Kennedy had given Daniel a message to pass to Castro, which said that the U.S. could respect a "nationalist, even communist" government of Cuba, but could not relate to a country that was "indentured" to the Soviet Union.<ref name = obit/>

⚫
He co-founded the French magazine ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' in 1964,<ref name = obit/> which had existed since 1950 as ''L'Observateur politique, économique et littéraire'' (1950&ndash;53), ''L'Observateur aujourd'hui'' (1953&ndash;54) and ''France Observateur'' (1954&ndash;64).<ref name = obit/><ref name=ph>{{cite book|author=Philip Thody|author-link=Philip Thody|title=Le Franglais: Forbidden English, Forbidden American: Law, Politics and Language in Contemporary France: A Study in|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W56vAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA290|access-date=20 April 2015|date=1 December 2000|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4411-7760-5|page=290}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Serge Berstein|author2=Jean-Pierre Rioux|title=The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GyhQAJeOZoC&pg=PA200|access-date=21 April 2015|date=13 March 2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58061-8|page=200}}</ref> The 1964 incarnation of the magazine was when Jean Daniel and [[Claude Perdriel]] took over renaming the magazine and starting its best known phase under the name ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' as a weekly. Since then it has been published by Groupe Nouvel Observateur on a weekly basis and has covered political, business and economic news in France and internationally. On 23 October 2014, the magazine was renamed ''[[L'Obs]]''.


==Published works==
==Published works==
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===Articles===
===Articles===
* "We Already Miss His Vigilance" [[TELOS (journal)|''TELOS'']] 44 (Summer 1980). New York: [http://www.telospress.com Telos Press]
* "We Already Miss His Vigilance" ''[[Telos (journal)|Telos]]'' 44 (Summer 1980). New York: [http://www.telospress.com Telos Press]


==References==
==References==
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{{Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities}}
{{Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities}}
{{Prix Méditerranée winners}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:Algerian Jews]]
[[Category:Algerian Jews]]
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[[Category:French Jews]]
[[Category:University of Algiers alumni]]
[[Category:University of Algiers alumni]]
[[Category:Algerian emigrants to France]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Pieds-Noirs]]
[[Category:People from Blida]]
[[Category:People from Blida]]
[[Category:French people of Algerian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:French people of Algerian-Jewish descent]]
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[[Category:French war correspondents]]
[[Category:French war correspondents]]
[[Category:French magazine founders]]
[[Category:French magazine founders]]
[[Category:Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit (France)]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
⚫
[[Category:French agnostics]]

{{france-journalist-stub}}

Revision as of 19:51, 27 July 2023

Jean Daniel
Born
Jean Daniel Bensaid

(1920-07-21)21 July 1920
Blida, Algeria
Died19 February 2020(2020-02-19) (aged 99)
Paris, France
EducationUniversity of Algiers
Sorbonne
OccupationJournalist
Known forFounder of Le Nouvel Observateur
SpouseMichèle Bancilhon
ChildrenSara Daniel

Jean Daniel Bensaid (21 July 1920 – 19 February 2020)[1] was a French journalist and author. He was the founder and executive editor of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly now known as L'Obs.

Life and career

Daniel was born in Blida, Algeria, as the youngest of 11 children.[2] His father, Jules Bensaid, was a flour miller.[3] Jean Daniel attended the University of Algiers before the Second World War.[2] During the war, he was part of a resistance group that aided the liberation of Algiers, and he participated in the Normandy landings as part of the Free French forces led by Philippe Leclerc.[2] Following the war, Daniel attended Sorbonne University (studying philosophy) and worked for Félix Gouin as a speechwriter.[2]

Daniel was a Jewish humanist in the tradition of the French Left. He was a colleague and friend of Albert Camus, a fellow pied-noir (French-Algerian).[2] In La prison juive: Humeurs et méditations d'un témoin (The Jewish Prison), Daniel argued that prosperous, assimilated Jews in the west live in a self-imposed prison made of up of three invisible walls: the idea of the Chosen People, Holocaust remembrance, and support for Israel. "Having trapped themselves inside these walls...," wrote Adam Shatz in describing the book, "they were less able to see themselves clearly, or to appreciate the suffering of others -- particularly the Palestinians living behind the 'separation fence'."[4]

Daniel was a member of the Saint-Simon Foundation think-tank.

Journalism

In 1947 Daniel co-founded the Caliban magazine, which ran until 1951.[2] Following it closure Daniel became a teacher, until he was hired as a reporter by L'Express in 1956.[2] Daniel covered the Algerian War for L'Express; he was sympathetic to the independence cause and received death threats from the Organisation armée secrète (OAS).[2] He was interviewing Fidel Castro in Havana as news came through of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.[2] Castro said "es una mala noticia" ("this is bad news"), perceiving that he would be blamed in some quarters for the assassination.[2] Kennedy had given Daniel a message to pass to Castro, which said that the U.S. could respect a "nationalist, even communist" government of Cuba, but could not relate to a country that was "indentured" to the Soviet Union.[2]

He co-founded the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur in 1964,[2] which had existed since 1950 as L'Observateur politique, économique et littéraire (1950–53), L'Observateur aujourd'hui (1953–54) and France Observateur (1954–64).[2][5][6] The 1964 incarnation of the magazine was when Jean Daniel and Claude Perdriel took over renaming the magazine and starting its best known phase under the name Le Nouvel Observateur as a weekly. Since then it has been published by Groupe Nouvel Observateur on a weekly basis and has covered political, business and economic news in France and internationally. On 23 October 2014, the magazine was renamed L'Obs.

Published works

Books

  • The Jewish Prison: a Rebellious Meditation on the State of Judaism translated into English by Charlotte Mandell, 2005, Melville House Publishing, USA

Articles

References

  1. ^ "Jean Daniel est mort" (in French). Le Nouvel Obs. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Jean Daniel obituary". The Times. 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  3. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (2020-02-20). "Jean Daniel, Leading French Journalist and Humanist, Dies at 99". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  4. ^ Shatz, Adam (5 April 2012) "Nothing He Hasn't Done, Nowhere He Hasn't Been." London Review of Books; page 15.
  5. ^ Philip Thody (1 December 2000). Le Franglais: Forbidden English, Forbidden American: Law, Politics and Language in Contemporary France: A Study in. A&C Black. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-4411-7760-5. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  6. ^ Serge Berstein; Jean-Pierre Rioux (13 March 2000). The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974. Cambridge University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-521-58061-8. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
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