Can we still debate in Quebec? Two new programs about to land on TVA and Noovo are betting on it and, for a rare time, offer the small screen the promise of lively discussions on social issues that mark the news. A format that was missing in the television landscape, whose programming is more consensual than conflictual, according to experts.
“I feel at the moment that there is a desire to talk to each other, to exchange opinions, to take the risk of having a dissonant idea and not being banned for having had it”, launches Stéphan Bureau in interview, a few days before taking the helm of his new show, The world upside downwith VAT.
Every Friday evening, starting September 16, he will receive various guests on his set – known and unknown to the general public – as well as regular collaborators to discuss current topics. If he intends to conduct individual interviews, a “good half” of the program will be devoted to debates.
Among the collaborators, we will find Yasmine Abdelfadel, Biz, Gregory Charles, Louise Deschâtelets, Sophie Durocher, Raed Hammoud, Richard Martineau and Guy Nantel. The goal, says Mr. Bureau, is to bring together people with different points of view so that everyone can relate to what they say. “It is possible that there are additions, that people come to improve our list. Because on the scale of sensitivities, I did not say that we had given birth to everything we still wanted, ”he specifies.
The 90-minute program will take place live and in front of the public, in order to allow the latter to participate by asking questions or describing a situation that affects them.
Stéphan Bureau recognizes it, the bet of live is risky, all the more in a context of debates of ideas which can quickly make sparks. “The challenge is going to be to allow chaos without it winning, that at some point there is a loss of control, a little cacophony in the exchanges, it is inherent in this exercise. […], but always end with a smile. »
Also in Noovo
The challenge will be much the same on the Noovo channel, which is also launching a new program devoted to the debate next week. The debaters will be hosted live by the antenna chief Michel Bherer, from Monday to Thursday, just after the news bulletin Thread from 10 p.m.
Four collaborators — three regulars and one guest — will be invited to debate for 30 minutes a topic that caught the attention of the day. Politics, law, health, business, arts: all subjects can be found at the heart of the exchanges.
The team has built up a bank of 15 regular collaborators, including Alex Perron, Déborah Cherenfant, Anne-France Goldwater, Meeker Guerrier, François Lambert, Geneviève Pettersen and Alain Vadeboncoeur, to name but a few. . The list is, again, not static and may grow.
“The important thing was to have people with different ideas who aren’t afraid to give their opinion and confront that of others. […] We do rehearsals, and that leads to lively, frank exchanges. It’s been a few sparks, but never a chicane. It’s always with respect and friendliness,” says Michel Bherer.
Baffles in silos
Although different in form, these two shows basically have a similar goal: to show that it is still possible to debate in our society, which is more polarized than ever, and to offer a space to do so.
According to Stéphan Bureau, the debate is too often perceived as a vector of conflict in Quebec, when it is more of a “playful pleasure”. “It’s having a conversation with someone who doesn’t represent our point of view, with the hope of maybe changing their mind or seeing [soi-même] things differently in the end. »
Michel Bherer agrees. He also sees it as a way to continue to inform people who are not necessarily big news consumers in a different way.
Quebec is a very consensual society. We are afraid of hurting others with our ideas, or afraid of thinking too much outside the consensus and painting ourselves in a corner.
A great fan of social debate programs – which she consumes a lot on French television – producer and columnist Marie-France Bazzo is delighted to see this format finally find a place on our small screens. “The debate was already more present in recent years on the radio, but in general, it does not really exist in our media. Above all, we have people who express themselves on their own, in a vacuum, yell at each other and respond to each other with chronicles, without ever having a real conversation, ”she judges.
Specialist of Quebec television, the professor at UQAM Pierre Barrette confirms it: the televised debate has nothing of a tradition in Quebec. “He’s been around since the 1950s, but it’s rarely a show that’s all about him. They are more like small segments in public affairs programs where we sometimes find ourselves with guests who debate spontaneously, “he explains, giving as an example Point, Right to speakor Call me Lisa.
The renewed desire to debate
Of course, there are exceptions, including the debates of the large newspaper of TQS which were led by Denis Lévesque until 2005 and which were very successful. A formula which moreover resembles the Debaters from Noovo.
“The will was there, but it was difficult to put in place,” notes Marie-France Bazzo, who hosted until 2008 There will be sports at Tele-Quebec. It was then difficult, she says, to find speakers ready to debate in front of the camera. “Quebec is a very consensual society. We are afraid of hurting others with our ideas, or afraid of thinking too much outside the consensus and painting ourselves in a corner,” she says.
However, she predicts a brighter future for the format, which is making a comeback these days. “There has been a paradigm shift over the past four or five years, due to generational change and a change in values. We have new important topics to put on the table: gender, climate, the value of work, diversity, etc. Themes that were present at the time, but that we really want to talk about today. »
Pierre Barrette also underlines the role of social networks in this sudden thirst for debate. Many people have become accustomed to expressing their opinions freely there, sometimes creating a lively conversation between users, which nevertheless often turns sour. “It didn’t go unnoticed by programmers. They saw a vein to exploit, a space to create to make these exchanges possible”, analyzes the one who foresees a multiplication of debates on the screen in the years to come.
But it remains “information-show”, according to him. “We are not in objective or educational information, it is essentially opinion, and we already have a lot of it in our media. »