The meeting of the mediator, like every Sunday, with Emmanuelle Daviet. Why does the editorial staff of franceinfo take up this or that subject? How do we treat it? Why one angle and not another? These are the questions listeners ask. Today to answer them, the details of Matthieu Mondoloni, deputy editorial director of franceinfo.
Emmanuelle Daviet: We start with a sport subject which has generated a number of messages, I read you the email which summarizes the content of all of what I received.
“I am stunned by the recurring news of the day, namely the situation of Novak Djokovic. I wonder about your selection of essential news in the world. Do you really think that the situation of a tennis player constitutes the most important information? important of the day? Especially since you have been talking at length on this subject for several days.
Matthieu Mondoloni, do you understand the weariness of some of your listeners about this soap opera from the world number one in tennis?
Matthew Mondoloni: So, of course, I understand the weariness that can sometimes be felt by some listeners, it’s that some people are passionate about events and others less so. And that, we hear perfectly on franceinfo. The fact remains that it is a major event because it is not just any tennis player, it is the world number one.
He is someone who has had quite controversial positions, as we know, on vaccination, on the Covid and in the current debate, who can also agitate countries, the whole world, well this Djokovic affair in Australia, we recalls all the same that hundreds of thousands of people have been confined. I believe this is one of the biggest lockdowns in Melbourne, 283 days of lockdown.
Over there, it particularly resonates to say that someone could benefit from an exception. So, we followed it with the help of our correspondent in Australia, Grégory Plesse, with the help of the sports department of Radio France because it’s a soap opera that seems interesting to us and that symbolizes something. And besides, we will continue to follow him, hoping not to scare away this listener, but I’m sure who will come for the other very numerous subjects that we have on the air.
Another frequent message in a completely different area: the Covid figures. Here is the message:
“I hear your journalist again announcing that there is a record of contaminations, but many of us mathematicians say that this figure means nothing if you do not mirror it with the number of people who have tested during the day. It is not a number that must be given, but a percentage, that of the number of infected according to the number of tested. And there, we would have a correct vision of the progression or the regression of the epidemic. Please change the way you give us these figures which, for the moment, make no sense.”
Matthew Mondoloni. What do you answer him?
Matthew Mondoloni: That he’s absolutely right, and that it’s a fight that, unfortunately, I regularly lose to the editorial staff. It’s okay, I’m joking a bit on that, even if it’s very serious. I agree with him. A number alone means nothing sometimes. And it’s not just journalists, it’s a mistake on our part to take them back like this.
But we remember Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, who used these raw figures. “300,000 contaminations, it’s a tidal wave”, in front of the National Assembly, and indeed, behind the journalists, we tend to resume. I repeat, it is wrong.
These raw figures, we try to contextualize them. He is absolutely right in saying that a number alone does not mean anything, that it must be put into perspective. And there, in this case, he talks about the positivity rate, which is also given on the franceInfo antenna, but rather in the developments. It is true that in the titles, sometimes, but I tell you, I myself will see my comrades in the editorial staff and tell them: “Stop giving that figure by itself. It means nothing”, so he is right , and I’m going to send another email to the entire editorial staff to tell them to be attentive to this subject.
We end with a request on the occasion of this presidential campaign. I read you the message:
“Could you mention and make the small presidential candidates heard? I would find it fair to hear them and therefore hear all the small candidates. In 2017, they had been mentioned far too little and we had not had the opportunity to know them.”
Make all the candidates heard, Matthieu Mondoloni, is it possible?
Yes, it is possible one way or another. So not necessarily all at the same time, etc. We are going to have candidates that we are going to have on small boxes or slightly shorter reports, because there is a representativeness. It is the CSA or the Arcom, more precisely today, which imposes this thing on us, and rightly so. And we respect this idea of representing all the people who are candidates.
There are those who are declared candidates and those who will actually be on March 8. They will probably not be the same. But to answer this listener or these listeners who are very legitimately wondering about the thing, we also have in preparation a choice of franceinfo, you know, every morning broadcast at 8:10 from Monday to Friday, on these small candidates , it’s not pejorative, but these candidates that you may not hear enough about to know who they are, who they represent. And do they have a chance of going through with the candidacy for the presidential election.