France’s public broadcasting media apparatus is facing calls for privatisation after two state-funded journalists were caught on hidden camera allegedly strategising with senior Socialist Party officials over the upcoming presidential and Paris mayoral elections.
Shockwaves were sent through the French political and media landscapes following the publication of explosive hidden camera footage from a July meeting between France Inter radio presenters Patrick Cohen and Thomas Legrand [pictured above], and Socialist Party national council leader Luc Broussy, as well as Socialist MEP Pierre Jouvet.
The recording of the meeting was published by the right-wing monthly L’Incorrect, which claimed that the objective of the collaboration was to ensure the defeat of centre-right Culture Minister Rachida Dati in the Paris mayoral elections in 2026 and to back Socialist MEP Raphaël Glucksmann to take on Marine Le Pen or Jordan Bardella in the next presidential election.
TOPSHOT – France’s left Socialist Party (PS) and Place Publique party’s leading European Parliament election candidate and MEP Raphael Glucksmann delivers a speech during a campaign meeting at the Zenith de Paris on May 30, 2024. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP) (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
During the meeting, Legrand, who, in addition to working for public radio, also contributes to the leftist Libération newspaper, is quoted as saying that centrist voters may be open to voting for Glucksmann in a race against Le Pen, as opposed to candidates further to the left, such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The report also quotes the public radio presenter suggesting that France Inter may be able to swing votes toward Glucksman, saying: “The centre right, centre left, we don’t hear them much, but they listen to France Inter. And they listen en masse.”
Reacting with “delight”, according to L’Incorrect, Socialist Pierre Jouvet said: “We agree on this idea of a non-Melenchonist common candidate.”
Glucksmann, who also happens to be in a long-term romantic relationship with another French public broadcaster journalist, host of 20 Heures on the France 2 television network, Léa Salamé, broke ranks with the leftist New Popular Front coalition amid concerns about rising anti-semitism and the radical leftism of Mélenchon’s party. Although to the left of Macron, the MEP would likely serve as the closest candidate to keeping the globalist status quo in the Élysée Palace.
Meanwhile, the L’Incorrect report also released excerpts of the conversation in which Legrand is claimed to have said that he and fellow France Inter broadcaster Patrick Cohen would “do what it takes” to derail the candidacy of Culture Minister Rachida Dati of the centre-right Les Républicains in next year’s Paris mayoral elections to replace socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Responding on social media, Dati wrote: “Journalists from public media and Libération claim to be ‘doing what is necessary’ to eliminate me from the Paris election. These are serious statements, contrary to journalistic ethics, which could lead to sanctions. Everyone must now take responsibility.”
French journalist Patrick Cohen arrives to attend a national tribute ceremony in honour of late French Justice Minister Robert Badinter, outside the Ministry of Justice, at the Place Vendome, in Paris on February 14, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)
Going further, National Rally leader Marine Le Pen called for the French public broadcasting ecosystem to be privatised, saying that they “have used their audience to wage a political battle against all those who do not think like them.”
“Public service cannot be a branch of the Socialist Party, no more than it could be of any other political party. We must now consider its privatisation, which would allow the French to save four billion euros per year.”
France Inter announced on Friday evening that it had suspended Thomas Legrand over the video; however, no action has been taken against Patrick Cohen so far.
The pair have claimed that the video was taken out of context, and Legrand has said he was merely talking about fighting “Mrs Dati’s lies and her attitude towards the press,” not to take her on politically. For its part, the Socialist Party has also attempted to discredit L’Incorrect over its ties to French MEP Marion Maréchal, the somewhat estranged niece of Marine Le Pen.
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