It was the star couple of the information. The charmer, the charming. The king and queen of JT. Nearly 10 million viewers each evening. Prestigious guests. Two of the journalists, iconic, public life and private life are mixed. The symbols of a string overkill which reigned on the French audiovisual landscape. Monday to Sunday, Patrick Poivre d’arvor and Claire Chazal, who have, for more than 20 years, presented the journal to be the most watched in Europe telling the Gulf war, relating to political infighting, covering dozens of campaigns, interviewing the stars of the show-biz. A longevity record to the point that we thought was untouchable. And yet. In seven years, the two indéboulonnables have been set aside. A divorce led by a strong man of TF1 : Nonce Paolini.
The story was beautiful. After a small crossing of the desert, Patrick Poivre d’arvor arrives on TF1 and in 1987 – the chain is now privatized – here he is at the head of the 20 hours. It becomes PPDA : look feverish, warm voice, hands in motion. It is not quite a journalist : he is a character and a star. Patrick Le Lay and Etienne Mougeotte, the patrons of the A, have succeeded in their bet : the JT of TF1 becomes the most watched and attracts up to ten million viewers. Politicians and international stars are rushing on her tray.
Patrick Poivre d’arvor and Claire Chazal in 1994. © NIVIERE/SIPA / SIPA / NIVIERE/SIPASi-to-week A is given by Poivre d’arvor, the weekends of Bruno Masure and Ladislas de Hoyos are struggling to compete. The Lay and Mougeotte will seek a young journalist little known to the general public – it manages the 7: 30 a.m. and 23 hours on Antenna 2. The aim : to feminize an antenna that is very masculine. Claire Chazal arrives in August 1991 to animate the newspapers of the weekend. TF1 holds his partner, who is going to literally crush the competition : the years pass, the presenter of France 2 trépassent. Hervé Claude, Bruno Masure, Paul Amar, Claude Sérillon, Daniel Bilalian, or even Etienne Leenhardt do not make the weight. The machine TF1 is too strong. The Lay and Mougeotte have managed to make the information a flagship product to the image of sport and entertainment. And glamour. Especially when the rumors, confirmed by the birth of their son in 1995, running on a connection between the two stars.
Controversy
PPDA, a journalist in any field. © AFPCette domination is not without controversy. PPDA, who plays Tintin in visiting areas of conflict, is caught up by the patrol. In the early 1990s, it transforms a press conference with president Fidel Castro in an exclusive interview. In 1996, he was convicted of concealment of abuse of social goods in the case of Pierre Botton. Here it is private antenna for three months. Point of scandal for Claire Chazal. But a little music : it is not the most competent for this position – we forget that it comes out of the HEC. It is said to have little going for it during his interviews, too, turned towards the culture, too mechanical in its launches. The comedians will give heart to joy. “Some nights, Claire Chazal, she reads so much its prompter that one has the impression that it will give the brand. “His One year in Paris Match feeds also mocking and evil spirit. But nothing affects the confidence of the viewers. The couple approaches the new millennium with confidence and rest the two faces of the news : they hold the antenna for the passage of the year 2000, during the September 11 attacks, April 21, 2002, and to announce in chorus the election of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. This is the beginning of the end.
Read also Patrick Poivre d’arvor : the ” I ” of the 20 hours
in The month of may, The Lay and Mougeotte are replaced by a close relative of Martin Bouygues : Nonce Paolini. In July, PPDA and Grandma-DA (as it is nicknamed, ironically, Chazal in the corridors of the chain) questioning the brand new president of the Republic. Teasingly, Poivre d’arvor is allows you to treat Nicolas Sarkozy as a “little boy” who arrives in the great court of the G8. The host of the Élysée gets away with a spin. It is thought the incident closed. Behind the scenes, it agitates it. It is rumored that Nicolas Sarkozy would have dabbled at this insolence. In 2008, in a book, PPDA explains that Martin Bouygues would have warned him that he would not be invited to the Elysée palace, yet it will still Nicolas Sarkozy a few weeks later. Then comes a blast : in a book, Madame, good evening sir, five journalists from the chain, wishing to remain anonymous, you have to pay for PPDA. He is a man of tyrannical, disrespectful to his staff and a bit lazy – it is never the writing. No member of the governing does not defend the journalist star. Finally, if TF1 is still the leader of the hearings, the figures of the JT 20 hours to break down, or even decline, David Pujadas, in office since 2001, catching up a little at the delay. The cleaver falls : in June 2008, we announced the departure of Patrick Poivre d’arvor. A tragedy for the presenter who explained in the press that he had a date in mind for his departure. This was obviously not the one.
The two journalists questioning Nicolas Sarkozy. During the interview, PPDA dares to compare the new president of the Republic of the “little boy”. © – / TF1 / AFP
What cannot be avoided, it is necessary to embrace it
Orphan black Pepper, Chazal holds. Its hearings also. But critics are more virulent : they reviled his interview little offensive Dominique Strauss-Kahn after the case of Sofitel ; it mocks its blunders ; it denounces its paranoia – it would take fewer holidays than before to avoid being stung her good hearing, and, therefore, its place, by its competitors ; we gloss on her new boyfriend much younger than herself. In August 2015, this is the red alert : there are more than 13 000 viewers of the difference between Chazal and Delahousse, at the helm of the JT of France 2. To great evils, great remedies. After 24 years of good and loyal services, the journalist is ruled out. “I didn’t want Claire Chazal is beaten and that we have a weekend (…) face of a balance sheet great,” says, without much hope, on Europe 1, Paolini. Queen Claire has her last JT on 13 September.
Claire Chazal questioned Dominique Strauss-Kahn. © FRANCOIS GUILLOT / POOL / AFP
When there is a star of the small screen, leave the post is a drama. First, there is the announcement : one often learns his ouster in the press or in conversation. Then, the months or weeks between the last issue : we must continue to make a good figure without pour his woes. Finally there is the D-day : the ultimate lyrics, the farewell discourse. The goodbye summarize almost always the personality of the ousted. On July 10, 2008, Patrick Poivre d’arvor quotes in front of nearly 10 million viewers Shakespeare : “That which can not be avoided, it is necessary to embrace it. “” Very modestly, because I was not able to prevent what happens this evening, I embrace you all and I embrace the whole of the writing. “It highlights the” success never denied ” his JT and has not a word to Laurence Ferrari, which should replace the start – he will spend his time at the scratch by the following. September 13, 2015, Claire Chazal, she, wish good luck to Anne-Claire Coudray for the estate and would like to thank Francis Bouygues for having appointed to this position – a small spade to his son. Here also, 10 million people will be grateful for this departure. Love stories end badly in general.
Claire Chazal in 2013. © PATRICK KOVARIK / AFPSi Chazal succeeded his after-JT – it hosts programmes on the public service, PPDA keeps a certain bitterness to them, putting them sometimes in the scene as a victim of freedom of expression. His return to television as failures, and his books often highlighted by the critics. The regular transitions has apparently not managed to turn the page of the JT.
the French tv channel TF1, she had turned the journalists stars. Weakened from the outset by the shadow of its predecessor and sacrificed on the altar of bad hearings, Laurence Ferrari has taken only four years. From the Hollande presidency, the first channel of Europe has chosen a couple normal, Gilles Birch and Anne-Claire Coudray, who continues to keep the leadership of the information in France. Rest Jean-Pierre Pernaut, the king of 13 hours and its 40 % share of the market that seems to be indéboulonnable despite his 70 years and his 32 years of presentation. But be careful, for pasticher Clemenceau : the graveyard, television is full of people indéboulonnables…
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