The transfer of Kylian Mbappé, women’s tennis and disabled sports on franceinfo

To answer listeners’ questions on the editorial treatment of sport on the franceinfo antenna, Nathalie Iannetta, director of sports at Radio France, speaks to Emmanuelle Daviet, mediator for Radio France’s antennas.

We start with the officialization on Monday, June 3, of the arrival of Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid. Some listeners did not understand that there was so much talk about it on the air, extracts from messages received: “The coverage you are doing of Kylian Mbappé’s arrival at Real Madrid is taking on incredible proportions”; “That you talk about it Ok. That it is the first headline in several newspapers and that we follow it in the news feed is an astonishing choice”; “A journalist even dared to say on the air, I quote: The news that the whole world was waiting for!This excess becomes grotesque”, writes one listener.

Emmanuelle Daviet: Nathalie Ianetta, a lot of incomprehension among some listeners, how do you explain the over-media coverage of this transfer?

Nathalie Iannetta : So I understand the reactions of the listeners, and I will tell you why I understand them because I explain them. How do I explain them? Because if we look at it from a purely sporting point of view, the transfer of a young man, however talented he may be, from one club to another, indeed, why do the same? Except that that’s not just the Mbappé affair and the Mbappé affair at Real Madrid, it’s firstly because the person, the character in himself, is a world star, like a star music, like a movie star. He is a personality who made the front page of Times.

He’s probably one of the best-known French people in the world, whatever you think, but in any case, in terms of notoriety, it’s monumental. So already on his own, he is an object of attention and news. And then, then, it’s also a whole story around this boy who was an immense hope who today is beyond hope, because he is still 25 years old. It is also the story of a dream, the dream of a child who always wanted to play for Real Madrid, and who today arrives at what is the biggest club in the world, from a point of view. purely factual view.

And it is also this trajectory which, in my opinion, deserves attention. Because beyond football, beyond even sport, it is almost a story and a story of what the dream is today, the fact of believing in it in 2024, and how we can achieve it. ‘accomplish. But I understand the listeners. If we stick only to: “the transfer of a football player from one club to another”. Except that once again, that’s not what we’re talking about.

We now move on to women’s sport: listeners believe that the French women’s football team is rarely valued. Other listeners consider that women’s tennis has been passed over in silence, just like the women’s rugby sevens team. Do these criticisms seem justified to you?

We talk about it less perhaps than men’s sports. On the other hand, it’s a little unfair regarding the Franceinfo antenna, because firstly, on tennis for example, we are going to be factual. We follow the tennis matches, whether played by men or women at Roland-Garros. It is a form of absolute and total fairness. And we comment on those who are on the courts, whatever the gender of those who compete.

Then, on football, I think that, I am even certain, we are the only radio station, for example, to have gone to Bilbao, to cover the final of the Women’s Champion’s League, with Olympique Lyonnais who is bowed against FC Barcelona. We follow all the matches of Hervé Renard’s French team, we will be at the Olympic tournament, obviously present, in exactly the same way for the women’s Olympic tournament. So, it is both justified, because yes, still, in terms of volume, let’s be honest, it is lower than the volume devoted to men’s sports. But it’s still a little unfair, my dear listeners.

About Roland-Garros, a listener writes: “You talk a lot about the Roland-Garros players but not at all – at least I haven’t heard it – about wheelchair tennis which started on Tuesday June 4. Did you also follow this tournament?” Nathalie Iannetta, what is the place of disabled sports on the air?

So, from a more global point of view, indeed, on disabled sport, we have really increased both the reports, the editorial coverage and the events, because there are the Paralympic Games and we have since decided more than two years now, at the sports management, to follow these athletes as champions, in the same way as the able-bodied.

So here too, it’s a bit like for women’s sport, the volume is less important, but it is colossal compared to what we did before. Before, we almost never talked about it, but really almost never. For example, we had only one journalist sent to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. There, there will be 15 of us covering these games, we will have regular meetings, we will cover the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, exactly like the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. So, there is a shift today thanks to the Paralympic Games. It’s never enough, I agree. But frankly, the acceleration is important, and I hope that the listeners will be there for the Paralympic Games.