Editing Le Monde (section)

== Reception ==
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According to the [[Mitrokhin Archive]] investigators, {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}} (KGB codename VESTNIK, "messenger") was the [[KGB]]'s key outlet for [[active measures|Soviet disinformation]] in the French media. The archive identified two senior {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}} journalists and several contributors who were used in the operations (see also the article on [[Russian influence operations in France]]).<ref>[[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Christopher Andrew]], [[Vasili Mitrokhin]]: '' The Mitrokhin Archive. The KGB in Europe and the West''. London, Penguin Books 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-14-028487-4}}, p. 613.</ref> Michel Legris, a former journalist with the paper, wrote ''Le Monde tel qu'il est'' (''Le Monde as it is'') in 1976. According to him, the journal minimized the atrocities the Cambodian [[Khmer Rouge]] committed. In their 2003 book titled ''La Face cachée du Monde'' (''The Hidden face of "Le Monde"''), authors [[Pierre Péan]] and Philippe Cohen alleged that Colombani and then-editor [[Edwy Plenel]] had shown, amongst other things, [[partisan (political)|partisan]] [[bias]] and had engaged in financial dealings that compromised the paper's independence. It also accused the paper of dangerously damaging the authority of the French state by having revealed various political scandals (notably corruption scandals surrounding [[Jacques Chirac]], the "[[Irish of Vincennes]]" affair, and the sinking of a Greenpeace boat, the ''[[Rainbow Warrior (1978)|Rainbow Warrior]]'', by French intelligence under President [[François Mitterrand]]). This book remains [[controversial]], but it attracted much attention and media coverage in France and worldwide at the time of its publication. Following a lawsuit, the authors and the publisher agreed in 2004 not to proceed with any reprinting.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}