The name is a reference to Radical Georges Clemenceau's newspaper L'homme libre (‘The Free Man’), which was forced to close by government censorship and reacted upon its reopening by changing its name to L'homme enchaîné ("The Chained-up Man"); Le Canard enchaîné means ‘The chained-up duck’ but canard (duck) is also French slang for ‘newspaper’; it was also a reference to French journals published by soldiers during World War I.

[3] It changed its title briefly after World War I to Le Canard Déchaîné (‘The duck unbound’ or ‘out of control’) to celebrate the end of military censorship of the press.

In the 1920s it used to provide free advertising for Le Crapouillot, another satirical magazine created by Jean Galtier-Boissière, a friend of Maurice Maréchal.

Pages 5–7 are dedicated to social issues (such as the environment), profiles, general humour and satire, and literary, theatre, opera and film criticism.

The Canard publishes insider knowledge on politicians and leaks from administration officials, including information from whistle-blowers.

Every issue includes short political news (Mare au Canards); weekly profile (Prises de Bec); news from the media world; sections of press clippings (typos and malapropisms found in the French press) Rue des petites perles and À travers la presse déchaînée; the section which highlights the two most absurd or incomprehensible sentences of the week by politicians, respectively hanging them up on the mur du çon or awarding them the noix d'honneur; as well as its Sur l'Album de la Comtesse section of comic, cryptic spoonerisms.

In La Cour, the king would address his subjects by means of the étranges lucarnes (strange windows), a phrase de Gaulle had employed about television.

This followed the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, which also extend into the Regency of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans that followed the death of Louis XIV.

(describing Carla Bruni's bohemian-bourgeois reactions towards events involving her husband, then President Nicolas Sarkozy); the Journal de Penelope F. (in the run-up to the 2017 presidential election and following allegations of fake work by Penelope Fillon, wife of the Les Républicains candidate François Fillon).

The Canard also reports on topics affecting the general population: scandals in industries (workforce, safety issues), miscarriages of justice, misconduct in public administrations and services... As with the British satirical magazine Private Eye, it has its own language, jargon and style.

Some examples include: As of 2004[update], the publisher of the Canard was Michel Gaillard, and the head editors were Claude Angeli and Erik Emptaz.

On 3 December 1973, policemen of the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST), disguised as plumbers, were caught trying to install a spy microphone in the directorial office of Le Canard.

After meeting with President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Prime Minister Raymond Barre called for "meditation upon the consequences of certain ignominies", and spoke of "a baseness".

Because it does not accept advertisements (being free of sponsors), being entirely privately owned (being the same,) and because its publishing costs are met by its sales, Le Canard Enchaîné is considered[by whom?]