The Zemmour – Mélenchon debate is a hit – The HuffPost

via Associated Press

POLITICS – There was only Michaël Youn and Sylvie Testud, Thursday evening, on television, to overshadow the debate Jean-Luc Mélenchon – Eric Zemmour. The duel, bitter, between the leader of rebellious France for the next presidential election and the far-right polemicist, who no longer hides his ambitions for spring 2022, has gathered 3.8 million viewers on BFMTV.

A massive audience for a political debate. What’s more on a TNT channel … and seven months from the election deadline. Clearly: only the series “Fugueuse” proposed by TF1, with the trio Youn – Testud – Jolly did better with 3.9 million interested.

Far behind, France 2 is the first victim of this audience success. The public service channel, which launched her political campaign program with Valérie Pécresse, clearly suffered from the counter-programming of the news channel. The program, called “Élysée 2022 ″, has barely exceeded one million viewers, despite a debate between the patron of the Île-de-France region and the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin.

Anticipated failure at France Télé

A differential – in the form of an anticipated failure, the day before, by the audiovisual group. Laurent Guimier, the news director of France Televisions, spoke to AFP about BFMTV’s “audience race strategy”. “We are in another logic and our obsession is to be in the news, not to seek the audience at all costs”, he insisted, accusing the news channel of “parasitizing a competing program ”Because it fits into“ a strategy of race to hit and hit. ”

“Our public service responsibility is to take things into account,” he hammered again, citing “several extremely strong democratic times” such as the “environmentalist primary”, which seems to have to be “treated more consistently on our branches ”than a” possible candidacy ”.

“The day when Eric Zemmour will be officially a presidential candidate, if he is, he will be received in our news broadcasts and in our political broadcasts” but not before, he explained, probably forgetting the participation of Éric Zemmour on the program “On est en direct” by Laurent Ruquier and Léa Salamé, on September 11th.