“We accept this choice”, maintains the information director of the TF1 group

The information director of the TF1 group, Thierry Thuillier, chose franceinfo to return to the interview that Benyamin Netanyahu gave to LCI last Thursday. He denounces in passing the sabotage attempts which preceded the interview. He also mentions the next interview with Emmanuel Macron, Thursday.

“We fully assume this choice”, supports Thierry Thuillier, deputy general director of the information division of the TF1 group, on franceinfo, Monday June 3, four days after the broadcast of the criticized interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Thursday May 30 on LCI. This sequence provoked a demonstration which brought together 2,500 people the same evening in front of the TF1 headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt. If he is “completely logical to be criticized”explains Thierry Thuillier, he denounces “calls for sabotage” For “prevent this interview”. “There, we are in a form of intimidation”he protests, reaffirming that “whatever happens, we are very calm and we will continue to do our job.”

“We prefer, within the TF1 group, the contradiction of ideas rather than censorship”affirms the one for whom “Being a journalist is simply asking contradictory questions to obtain information”. “Darius Rochebin, who is an excellent interviewer, did this job perfectly”, he continues. For Thierry Thuillier,

“Censorship ultimately means preventing the French public from forming an opinion.”

Thierry Thuillier, deputy general director of the information division of the TF1 group

at franceinfo

If there is any question of an arrest warrant requested by a prosecutor against the head of the Israeli government, it is not for the moment “not condemned”, recalls the information director. If that had been the case, “the question could have been asked” not to do the interview, he admits. As for questioning the other protagonist of the war in Gaza, the deputy general director of the information division of the TF1 group explains that “the question arose” and was “discarded”. “That doesn’t mean we don’t hear Hamas, but Hamas is a terrorist organization, it’s not a state”, he explains. On the other hand, the idea of “giving voice to the Palestinian Authority, that interests us”he says.

Today, an interview with President Emmanuel Macron is being prepared for co-broadcast on Thursday on TF1 and France2, on the occasion of the commemoration of the landings on June 6. The European elections will be “necessarily” mentionedsays Thierry Thuillier. “Arcom will undoubtedly count this speaking time of the President of the Republic as counting in the campaign of Valérie Hayer, head of the Renaissance list for the European elections”, he continues.

The European elections will therefore “occupy a limited time of the interview, but there will still be questions on this news”, explains Thierry Thuillier. After this interview with the president, there will only be a little more than 24 hours left for the two channels to balance their speaking times. Indeed, from Friday June 7, at midnight, candidates and the media enter a reserve period. For the moment, the deputy general director of the information division of the TF1 group assures that TD1 and LCI are “completely on target” for speaking times.

Watch this interview on video: