Gauthier Delomez
modified to
11:08 a.m., April 20, 2022
For the debate between the two rounds on Wednesday evening, to be followed live and in full on Europe 1, the two presenters Léa Salamé and Gilles Bouleau will not be able to do fact-checking to correct a comment by Marine Le Pen or Emmanuel Macron. It is actually up to the candidates to contradict themselves, specify in Media Culture the directors of the political services of TF1 and France Televisions.
Léa Salamé and Gilles Bouleau will present the debate between the two rounds on Wednesday evening, which opposes Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen for the return match after the 2017 presidential election. An event to follow live and in full on Europe 1 at from 9 p.m. But during the debate, which should last around two and a half hours, the two journalists will not be able to do any fact-checking to correct an error or an approximation by a candidate. “They are mediators, arbitrators, but they are there to animate a debate between two candidates, and it is up to the candidates to respond to each other”, explains Adrien Gindre, director of the political service of TF1, in Media culture.
“It’s the difference with a classic interview,” continues the political journalist. “During a classic interview, the journalist is there to bring the contradiction or to clarify the reality. There, it will be the work of each of the candidates, one in relation to the other. If Marine Le Pen or Emmanuel Macron utters a counter – truth, it is up to his opponent to seize it and answer him. It is not Léa Salamé or Gilles Bouleau who will distribute the good and the bad points, “says Adrien Gindre.
Fact-checking systems on social networks
The head of TF1’s political service underlines that the two journalists “are not there to say ‘you are right’ or ‘you are wrong’, it is the enormous difference between a debate between two candidates and a classic interview.” His counterpart from France Télévisions, Cyril Graziani, continues by specifying that it is “the credibility of the candidate who would face fake news and who would not be able to react by saying ‘you were wrong'”.
The director of the political service of France TV adds that this work of fact-checking “could be done tomorrow (Thursday) by all the newsrooms in France.” Moreover, Adrien Gindre specifies, “without revealing any secrets, that France Télévisions and TF1 will have fact-checking devices on their respective social networks and websites, like many other media.”