The gap between BFM-TV and CNews has never been as small as in November. According to Médiamétrie figures revealed Monday, December 4, the former reached a market share of 2.8% (+ 0.1 point over one year), compared to 2.5% (+ 0.4) for CNews, i.e. a difference by 0.3 points. Unlike what happened in June, July, September and again in October, when it reached 2.7% market share, the Vivendi group chain did not break a new historic score . But after a month of October marked by the news of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, the death of young Thomas in Crépol (Drôme), on November 19, allowed him to set records: four days in a row, last week (November 28, 29, 30 and 1er December), CNews stole the position of leading news channel from BFM-TV. Since August 28, it has tied with its rival four times – on the criterion of market share – and has ranked first eighteen times, including eight times since Thomas’ murder.
“If BFM invites people like me, it’s only because of its worrying audiences”joked, Monday, November 27, the far-right author Laurent Obertone, co-founder with the far-right activist Papacito of the satirical quarterly La Furia. The next day, in fact, the essayist was on the Yves Calvi set. Would the leadership of BFM-TV be so threatened that it would justify the arrival of one of the most radical thinkers of the hard right who makes a causal link between immigration and violent news events?
“A channel’s audience is built over the long term, not on a one-night invitationdefends Philippe Corbé, the editorial director of BFM-TV. If the channel hosted, after having abstained from doing so for eight years, the one who is at the origin of the theory of“wilding” of the country, which he developed in his work France A Clockwork Orange (Ring) published in 2013, it’s because “since the Crépol drama, several of our guests have mentioned this book”he explains. Gold “since the term is in public debate, it seemed interesting to us to confront this theory with the facts, in a debate where its author faced our editorialists Amandine Atalaya and Christophe Barbier and our police-justice consultant Guillaume Farde, professor at Sciences Po and associate researcher at the Science Po Center for Political Research.”
Difficulties in “recruiting votes”
The appearance on the air of Juliette Briens, contributor to the magazine at the crossroads of the rights The Incorrect, should not, according to Mr. Corbé, be interpreted as a sign of an editorial shift on the Altice group channel. Four times in recent weeks, the columnist on Radio Courtoisie has been able to attack immigration and defend the ultra-right, in debates with other commentators from all political persuasions. “Juliette Briens will return to the set, like other right-wing personalities, whom we are also testing,” assumes Philippe Corbé. A recurrence that he justifies by the difficulties encountered by the channel in “recruiting” votes on this part of the political spectrum, especially since it can no longer count on Eugénie Bastié, Geoffroy Lejeune, or even Charlotte d’ Ornellas, all of whom have been with BFM-TV in the past, since they “have chosen to favor CNews”.
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