“We assume this choice. » At France Inter, we are straight in our boots. Never mind the disapproving rumor that accompanied the broadcast on social networks, on January 20, of an interview with Marine Le Pen all smiles, on a pink background, in a video module of about two and a half minutes. Baptized the “#InterviewPremièreFois”, the exercise consists, for the candidate for the presidential election, in answering very briefly to basic questions, transcribed on the screen. “First person you call if you are elected? », “First thought, if you are elected on April 24, at 8 p.m.? »but also “First time you realized you had a family… a bit apart? »Where “First cat? ».
Accompanied by dynamic, smiling and playful music, the candidate of the Rassemblement national in the presidential election responds, for example: ” My father. I hope he won’t be present, it will prevent me from bothering me all evening.in a knowing smile with the camera.
Or : “Yes, I am a professional cat breeder. Yes, I am a farmer, in a way, since I depend on the Ministry of Agriculture. » A sequence “closer to an M6 broadcast than to the France Inter antenna”, in the words of a journalist. “I understand that the formats broadcast on the Web are different from what we do on the air, but the one–this looks like an infomercial”adds a reporter. “Hey, did you see that, Pascal Praud [journaliste sur CNews] ?, launched comedian Guillaume Meurice on Monday, January 24, on his Twitter account. We too can make the extreme right cool and funky!! »
“Less buzz”
Marine Le Pen was not the first to take part in this exercise designed for networks and intended to appeal to a young audience. Interviewed under the same conditions (on leaving the station morning show) a few days earlier, on January 13, arms crossed behind her back and red mask on her face, Anne Hidalgo (PS) had shown herself there little to the easy. And the video was broadcast with general indifference, unlike that of his far-right opponent.
“The public service must give a voice to all the candidates, but it seems to us that our role is to remain in journalistic work, without lending itself to this type of “peopolization” of politics; even if it means making less buzz”regrets the Society of Journalists (SDJ), in an interpellation to the management sent to the entire editorial staff, at the end of the day, Tuesday, January 25. “It’s not Marine Le Pen the problem, but the format itself”, insists Corinne Audouin, the president of the SDJ of Radio France. In the spring of 2021, already, the suggestion made by the management of France Inter to Frédéric Pommier to ask politicians to mention their favorite song, on the occasion of his column broadcast in the “13 heures” (as had been told Mediapart), had caused some reprobation in the editorial staff.
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