Rachid M’Barki, dismissed at the end of February” by the channel, is suspected of having broadcast information on the air, sometimes oriented in particular on Qatar or Western Sahara without having obtained the validation of his hierarchy.
Rachid M’Barki, journalist fired by BFMTV at the end of February, and the director general of the channel Marc-Olivier Fogiel were heard, under oath, respectively on Wednesday March 21 and Thursday March 22 by a commission of inquiry of the National Assembly “relating to political, economic and financial interference by foreign powers – States, organizations, businesses, interest groups, private individuals – aimed at influencing or corrupting French opinion leaders, leaders or political parties.”
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The National Assembly is trying to shed light on suspicions of foreign interference, particularly in the French media, targeting BFMTV through one of its journalists, Rachid M’Barki, dismissed since the revelation of this affair by the investigation unit of Radio France. He is accused of having broadcast biased, biased and non-validated information on BFMTV.
Rachid M’Barki proclaims his innocence, Marc-Olivier Fogiel overwhelms his ex-collaborator
If Rachid M’Barki assures that all the accusations against him are pure slander, that he never acted in this way, his ex-boss believes that BFMTV is the victim in this affair. Victim of a journalist who, according to him, knowingly circumvented the usual validation process within the editorial staff. And it is for this reason and only that, that he was removed from the antenna, for serious misconduct therefore, because he had “seriously failed in the validation process” information within the chain. A complaint against X has also been filed by the continuous news channel for passive corruption and breach of trust. Rachid M’Barki worked at BFMTV since its launch in 2005, he was a leading face then, gradually, he was relegated to less exposed positions, until ending up at the night news (after in particular having announced the arrest of Mohammed Merah, later denied).
Information published in the nightly newspaper
Twelve sequences, which spread over a year and a half, are singled out. Information in brief, illustrated in pictures, on real subjects. It was not fake news, but it was either incomprehensible or irrelevant, sometimes biased, with references that almost no one could understand. In short, it had no place on BFMTV, according to Marc-Olivier Fogiel. And each time, Rachid M’Barki used stratagems to do without the validation, however mandatory, of his chief editor, according to the general manager of the chain. Marc-Olivier Fogiel says that the presenter took advantage that his hierarchy was busy with something else, that he arrived at the last minute to make changes, that he asked young journalists who were not always tenured to bring in images from a lobbyist. He is accused of not having respected the system put in place to pass on information that he alone considered interesting.
Was Rachid M’Barki paid for this? The journalist swears not. But, without questioning this assertion, Marc-Olivier Fogiel brings an element that leaves room for doubt. After the eviction of the presenter, the man who provided him with the information and the images, the lobbyist Jean-Pierre Duthion, contacted other journalists from BFMTV, told Marc-Olivier Fogiel in front of the parliamentarians to submit information to them. (which did not hold their interest) and to one of them, he offered compensation if he agreed to broadcast them on the air.