La Meute Collective: Militant Journalism and the 2nd Photography Parliament

The French collective La Meute, founded in 2016 by two students documenting university occupations against labor law reforms, has grown into an autonomous media platform, LaMeute.info, advocating for 'social photography' that actively participates in social movements rather than merely documenting them. The collective operates under pseudonyms, publishes reports, portfolios, and articles, and rejects traditional journalistic neutrality, aiming to amplify marginalized perspectives such as police violence and underreported events. They produce all content in-house to avoid editorial distortion. La Meute will participate in the 2nd Photography Parliament on May 5-6, 2021, an online event organized by the French Ministry of Culture in partnership with 9Lives, AOC, artpress, and Fisheye. The parliament features roundtables on photojournalism, copyright, and national photography programs. La Meute has professionalized since 2018-19, incorporating opposing viewpoints and receiving a grant from the Fondation de France. The article, part of a series by Aurélie Cavanna, highlights tensions between militant journalism and the global security law (Article 24) restricting images of police forces.