Robert Ménard

Who is Robert Ménard?

Robert Ménard, one of the founders and the former secretary-general of the Paris-based international NGO Reporters Sans Frontières, is mayor of the town of Béziers in the south of France.

Ménard came from an old French family which had lived in Algeria since the 1850s. When he was nine years old, the family moved to Brusque, Aveyron. He studied religion, and planned on becoming a priest. While in college, he became aligned with Trotskyist elements, and joined the Socialist Party.

In 1975-1976, Ménard created the pirate radio station Radio Pomarède and became president of l'Association pour la libération des ondes - The Association for the liberation of the airwaves. He became the target of many lawsuits, in one of which, François Mitterrand, later President of France gave a character reference. He later created the free magazine Le Petit biterrois but was forced to close it down due to a lack of advertisers. In 1985 he created Reporters sans Frontières.