A trade union representing TV staff in France is demanding that a team of journalists who produced an unfiltered report on the violent riots in Paris on Saturday 17 October be sacked.
It is the CGT trade union, comprising journalists and other staff at the French public broadcaster France Télévisions, which has made this demand in a press release on Tuesday, in which it describes the footage of the clashes, violence, arson and vandalism as ‘propaganda’, reports Le Journal du Dimanche.
The report in question, entitled ‘Au cœur des violences’ (At the heart of the violence) and can be viewed at the top of this article, was broadcast on Sunday 18 October on the news programme 20 Heures on France 2 following a brief introduction by the well-known news presenter Laurent Delahousse.
“One of our teams was on the ground yesterday, right in the thick of the events of 17 October, where they witnessed how the situation escalated into violent outbreaks in the heart of the capital, as reported by the team from 1.15 pm,” says Delahousse before the report. One of the journalists introduces the segment by mentioning that there were two demonstrations – one peaceful and one violent.
This is followed by several minutes of footage of the violence, accompanied by very little commentary, which has not gone down well with the CGT, which condemns this as an “editorial blunder” and is therefore demanding the dismissal of those responsible.
The trade union accuses the public broadcaster of having produced a ‘propaganda clip’ by focusing on images of violence rather than on the mobilisation in which the CGT took part. “12 minutes of images of violence ad nauseam, just like in a trashy film,” says the trade union.
Halfway through the report, footage is shown of the peaceful demonstration against the high cost of living and other political causes, in which the CGT itself took part, and where one of the key figures was Jean-Luc Mélenchon, presidential candidate and leading figure of the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI).
The report refers to this as “one of two parallel stories” that unfolded in the French capital on Sunday, but is nonetheless accused of associating Mélenchon with the violent demonstration.
The CGT’s press release also criticises the team’s approach, which the trade union believes reduces “a nationwide social movement” to “an unfiltered message of hatred”.
“The team stands completely still; even a CCTV camera would have done a better job. They walk in circles around the burning rubbish bins and the smashed street furniture, amidst the clouds of tear gas. Their mission? To film the rioters (les casseurs) in action as they repeatedly throw paving stones, right under the noses of the riot police and the trapped demonstrators.”
A news director at France Télévisions has apologised for the report.
Philippe Corbé, news director at France Télévisions, explained on France Info: “We presented a long feature in a different style, produced by the current affairs programmes. We should have distinguished it more clearly from the 8 pm news. We should have been clearer and provided more context.”
That apology is unlikely to be enough for the CGT, believes Le Journal du Dimanche.
