Every day, a personality invites herself into the world of Élodie Suigo. Today, journalist Claire Chazal. On June 16, she will host the special French-speaking program “Le Grand Échiquier”, on France 3.
Claire Chazal is a journalist with a particularity: that of having become over the years one of the most emblematic faces of women in the media in France. For nearly 24 years, she accompanied us in our living room, at the presentation of the TF1 JT, before moving on, devoting herself to interviews with personalities from the world of culture in “Entrée libre”, on France 5.
From June 19 to 23, 2023, Claire Chazal will be a member of the jury of the Competition of companies at the 73ᵉ edition of the Festival d’Anjou, alongside Stéphanie Bataille, Mélanie Doutey, Pascale Arbillot and Anne de Amezaga, only women.
franceinfo: This Anjou Festival, which runs until July 6, is a great way to highlight creations and new talents. That is five emerging theater companies that will perform on the Quai d’Angers stage. Is it an easy role to be a member of the jury?
Claire Chazal: Oh no, it’s not easy! And it’s the first time I’ll do it. I have been going to the theater a lot for a very long time, but judging is very difficult. First of all, opinions have to come together, find a consensus and then afterwards, you have to try to be obviously very impartial.
Culture is really something that is very close to your heart, which has always been part of you in the end!
Yes. My parents were really people of the book. And then, very early on, I went to see dance, theater, opera.
“I was born into a family of modest people at first, but who had become intellectuals and who loved reading.”
Claire Chazalat franceinfo
And as soon as I was able to present newspapers, I really tried to impose subjects concerning culture, in particular on TF1. I’m quite proud of it since every weekend we had at least five subjects devoted to theatre, exhibitions, opera and dance.
You danced…
I still do. Yes, I practice, and that’s what I prefer.
You embody for many a feminine face, symbol of success in a world of journalism very testosterone before. You started your journalism career as a freelance radio and print reporter. Why journalism?
It was not at all a vocation. We were reading The world at home. Of course, I read newspapers for my studies. I did HEC, a school that intended me to enter a company and instantly, I felt that it was not at all my place.
For what ?
Because it was not a world that, intellectually, interested me. So, very naturally, to work, I said to myself: but what do I like? I like economics, these are my studies, I like to write. I looked, and after doing freelance work, internships at Europe 1, knocking on many doors for many months, I had the chance to meet Philippe Tesson at Paris Daily, who welcomed me and I became a journalist and I instantly loved this job. I knew absolutely no one in this environment and my parents, who also knew absolutely no one, were a little suspicious. They were really afraid of precariousness.
You also arrived very quickly also on TV as a big reporterr specialized in economics at Antenne 2. On December 25, 1989, you presented your first newspaper in Télématin. And then there is this announcement from Patrick Le Lay, president of TF1, and Etienne Mougeotte, its vice-president, that you are coming to the head of the presentation of the weekend newspapers. You have been appointed editor-in-chief, news director. Is it more difficult when you’re a woman to get this legitimacy?
I didn’t consider it difficult. I never felt it, either in the written press or later on television. At TF1, for example, there were many women in positions of responsibility. The one who hired me, who was the news director, was Michèle Cotta. So I did not feel this mistrust at TF1, of course headed by a president and a vice-president. I felt exactly equal to Jean-Pierre Pernaut, who presented the 1 p.m., and Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, who presented the 8 p.m. of the week. With them, we formed a team and we had the same conception of journalism.
There is this date, September 7, 2015, when it is announced that your collaboration with TF1 is ending. What happens when you come home at night and say to yourself: “I’m not going to go back on the air anymore”.
“There is a kind of vertigo that a lot of people feel, because I am not at all the only one to have experienced this situation, to be deprived of a job that you love all of a sudden. I had a very decent start from TF1… Well, a forced departure.”
Claire Chazal, on “post-TF1”at franceinfo
I was very supported by the public. There is a hole, it’s true. There is a lack, it’s true, especially at the time of major news events, November 13, 2015, the Notre-Dame fire, the elections, election nights, all those things that I lived for 25 years. Adrenaline, we have less when we record the shows. We miss the live a bit. But hey, that’s how it is and I just hope to continue.
The Festival d’Anjou runs until July 6, 2023 with many plays from private and public theaters.
On June 16, 2023, special Francophonie program Le Grand Échiquier on France 3.