On the occasion of the Média en Seine event, organized Wednesday November 22, at the Maison de la radio, with The echoes And The Parisian, franceinfo explains its way of working by answering questions from listeners addressed to Emmanuelle Davier, the mediator of Radio France. With the duo from the “8h30 franceinfo” interview, Salhia Brakhlia and Jérôme Chapuis, as well as Nicolas Teillard, journalist who presents the 17-20 section. VHere is how political interviews are prepared and conducted, which often give rise to numerous reactions.
Emmanuelle Davier: We are indeed going to address sensitive questions: how are political interviews conducted in the morning? What are the principles and processes behind them? First question from listeners: “How independent are you from power? Does Matignon or the Élysée impose guests on you in the morning?”
Jérôme Chapuis: This is an important question, because it allows, once and for all, to put an end to a fantasy. No, there is absolutely no intervention in the choice of guests. Our freedom is total. For what ? Because freedom is the condition of our credibility. Afterwards, we can talk about how we choose together. I say we, it’s very important, because it’s a collective choice. We choose the guests. There are suggestions on a WhatsApp group, then there is a discussion and then there are decisions that we make, once again, collectively.
Salhia Brakhlia: We choose the guests ourselves, because there is a reflection on the legitimacy of the guest that we want to hear and on the moment when we choose to invite them. And that’s just up to us to decide. No one outside franceinfo says “you have to invite this one”, no way. It doesn’t happen.
Nicolas Teillard: There are also constraints, because sometimes guests that we would like to have are not available, or do not want to respond to us, one morning, or even over long periods of time.
Salhia Brakhlia: And it’s a real battle, it must be said, because there are several of us in this niche. We have a lot of competitors on morning shows. And so, in this specific case, you need to have the best interlocutor in relation to a current event. We fight for this every morning and we succeed quite well at franceinfo. But indeed, we also have to deal with the agendas of ministers and different personalities.
Jérôme Chapuis: There is another constraint, that which the law imposes on us in terms of pluralism. On franceinfo, as on all audiovisual media, we have obligations in terms of pluralism. All sensitivities must be represented.
Nicolas Teillard: Some are surprised on social networks that guests, one morning, are of the same political color on France Inter, RMC, RTL or franceinfo. There is no consultation, only an obligation to vary the guests, and some mornings, it happens that we actually have guests from the same party on different radio stations.
Emmanuelle Davier: Jérôme Chapuis, Salhia Brakhlia, when you receive a minister, do you prepare the questions with his team?, asks a listener.
Salhia Brakhlia: Here again it’s really part of the fantasies: never. That doesn’t happen, actually. Those who prepare the “8:30” are Jérôme and me. We thought about the questions, we reflected on them, we discussed them together, we wrote them together. So at no time does the guest’s communication advisor interfere with what we have on our sheet, in the morning in front of our guest. Afterwards, there is something that matters to us, and that is having a personality, in front of us, who has answers to give. Since it’s a half-hour interview, the guest needs to prepare as well. So we give them the themes covered, but without further details.
Jérôme Chapuis: But it’s very succinct. For example we will say: “Today, our priority is to talk about the Middle East, or purchasing power.” Our interest is obviously that the people we have in front of us have worked on the file which is a priority for us.
Nicolas Teillard: Know, to be completely transparent, that the work of the communication services of political figures is to say: “We would like to talk about that.” And the classic response is to tell them: “Of course we’ll talk about it,” and ultimately choose to possibly dismiss this question!
Jérôme Chapuis: Yes, the important thing is our freedom. Afterwards, it can also be in our interest to know that this or that personality wants to talk about that, because we can suspect that he has an announcement to make, for example, a measure to reveal. And in these cases, we’re quite happy that it’s happening here.
Emmanuelle Davier: Very concretely, how does the preparation for a political interview take place? What are the stages of this preparation?
Jérôme Chapuis: The right ingredients for a successful interview are the right guest, the right time and the right questions. For the right questions, Salhia and I have our little rituals. We each work in our own lane. We have a WhatsApp group, in which we put all the themes and there, it’s a bit “clutter”. Paul and Antoine, who work with us, then provide us with documentation based on all these suggestions. This is in the two or three days preceding the interview. The day before – it’s my gift when I wake up – we generally receive around forty pages to read. So, with Salhia, everyone in their own lane, we each have ideas. We think about questions, we often exchange an email around 6 p.m. and only then do we talk. Because we can have almost the same ideas, but it can happen that one thinks of something and the other doesn’t, or vice versa.
Salhia Brakhlia: The goal is to be complementary. There are two of us during “8:30”, we don’t necessarily have the same questions that come to mind and what’s more, we have different sensitivities. For example, I discovered that Jérôme really likes talking about artificial intelligence, there, he has lots of questions to ask and I am more on the side of societal themes, immigration, security… And I find that we complements itself well on this.
Emmanuelle Davier: Are you influenced by social networks to prepare for interviews?, asks a listener.
Jérôme Chapuis: We are influenced by everything that surrounds us, the media, our discussions… The first thing to take into account is the ecosystem, in an editorial office like that of franceinfo, where you have 200 journalists watching, all day, the news. The first influence is the franceinfo collective. Then, we are indeed interested in what is said on social networks. It’s a signal. It allows us to sense, to pick up on certain trends. Afterwards, we are like all French people: we look at social networks and, as was said in the La Croix barometer which was published this morning, we are also wary of them, because we know that there are everything on social networks.
Salhia Brakhlia: Yes, we keep our distance and at the same time, I remember that for several political guests, people on Twitter wrote to us asking: “Could you ask a question about this and that?”because there are topics that are coming up via social networks.
Nicolas Teillard: There is also the question we would like to ask, but the clock is ticking and we don’t have time!
Emmanuelle Davier: Exactly, last question from a listener: What measures are taken to ensure the veracity of information disseminated during political interviews? Do you have a way to check them?
Salhia Brakhlia: Normally, if we have done our preparation work well, we are able to consider all of the guest’s answers. If there is bad information that comes out, fake news that arrives during the interview, we are not able to verify it live, but we have something that is important at franceinfo, it is ” true or false”, our “fact-checking” unit, which can come back the next day on the false statement that was given on air.
Nicolas Teillard: But ultimately, what would be the perfect political interview? It’s complicated to say because there is no guide and it is not an exact science.
Emmanuelle Davier: I invite listeners to respond to us at [email protected], we read all your emails.