The progressive ending of the taboo concerning socio-professional responsibilities in suicides linked to work at France Telecom, from the end of August to October 2009 This article analyses the taboo concerning the media treatment of suicides at work, through the study of evolution in media cover of the suicides at France Telecom, at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn 2009, when suicides were on the increase and taking on spectacular forms. The worsening of the situation forced the government and the leaders of industry to speak out publicly and prompted the media to modify previous scenarios limited to enunciative encounters between employers and unions. Henceforth, the press showed a deliberate intention to place each suicide in a dramatic series (with episodes) and to move from dramatic spectacular narrative to explanation and interpretation, through modification of the previous encounters. This entailed a more systematic exploitation of hyperstructure and recourse to testimonies from employees or health or work specialists. These changes in media treatment (in the national or regional daily and weekly press) accompany, or even accelerate, the emergence of the responsibility of the firm in the suicides, and, beyond that, in the deterioration of social relationships at work.
