The TF1 group announced it the day before for the next day. Valérie Pécresse and Eric Zemmour face each other on Thursday March 10 during a televised debate broadcast on TF1 and LCI. This is a first face-to-face for the two candidates for the Elysée who hope to relaunch their campaigns in decline, in particular because of the war in Ukraine.
Europe’s leading channel is thus offering a new format for this presidential election with, starting at 8:20 p.m., a debate on TF1 and LCI, hosted by Ruth Elkrief Gilles Bouleau, then only on LCI from 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
“We had wanted to offer this format on our two antennas for several weeks now. We proposed several dates, it could have been another day of the week, smiles Thierry Thuillier. So why this new format? For several reasons. The first is the implementation of what we announced about a year ago, a multi-channel strategy. We want to bring the campaign to life, not just on the flagship TF1, which brings together a lot of viewers, but also on LCI, La Chaîne Info, which has been focusing on politics for quite a few years. Know that this format was proposed and approved by the two candidates. They are not surprised“, he says to franceinfo.
Are only two candidates not worth a full prime-time on the front page? “TF1 is a general channel. When you do a full evening with only two candidates, you have problems with time, speaking and fairness, speaking time, specifies the director of information of the chain. Which would mean that we would have to multiply the debates, it would take a lot. And you know it’s complicated.”before slipping that other debates on this same format are “in discussion”.
War in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron president-candidate: the news seems to have taken precedence over the presidential campaign itself, relegated to the background. What Thierry Thuillier confirms: “I think it’s probably one of the most difficult campaigns. I’ve been organizing their audiovisual coverage for a few presidential elections in a certain way, and this is undoubtedly the most difficult because it requires constant agility almost from day to day. I have warned the two representatives and the candidates this evening: if something happens, we can possibly question this debate. Because international news being what it is, it can ultimately sweep away this debate.”
For Thierry Thuillier, this complexity is even special: “This is a difficulty because the French public is not necessarily either, today, ready to listen to or hear the words of candidates within the framework of this presidential campaign. In any case, this is not what we have noted so far and it is a difficulty.”
Finally, Thierry Thuillier slipped a few words on Jean-Pierre Pernaut, who disappeared at the age of 71. The star of the 1 p.m. news had the right to a final farewell, Wednesday March 9, at the Sainte-Clotilde basilica in Paris, surrounded by many public figures – such as Brigitte Macron, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, the former Garde Seals Rachida Dati -, journalists from the editorial staff of TF1 and ordinary viewers.
“It was also a moment of reunion, very, very moving, I won’t hide it from you, with the family. And also with the whole TF1 family because, honestly, there were alumni, a lot of alumni, a lot of correspondents in the regions who are still on our airwaves today, but also alumni with whom he created this famous network of PQR. And I’m not hiding from you that we had a hard time separating behind. Besides, we were all present, even when the procession left. We stayed because we needed this moment of exchange. It was in his image, with the songs he liked, very sincere, very close to people.”, concluded Thierry Thuillier.