psychodrama at 13 Heures de France 2

Television news has often been presented as a stilted, unspectacular exercise consisting of a face-to-face confrontation between the presenter and his teleprompter. Since the departure of Yves Mourousi (February 1987), the 13 Hours have sought originality and madness. With Christophe Hondelatte, they will be served.

On September 6, 2004, he inaugurated, without a tie, a new format on France 2. Martyred by TF1 and Jean-Pierre Pernaut, the midday edition of La Deux reinvented itself. The host of “Bring in the Accused” has abandoned his leather jacket, but keeps the naturalness, spontaneity and tone that made him successful. The newspaper is nervous, closer to the people, open to debate (a prophetic “Is Putin a war criminal?”) and to guests. “It is a renovated newspaper but it remains a newspaperhe defended himself in the columns of Figaro. At 1 p.m., the news is being made. This is the moment when everything is boiling in the pot and we wanted that to be visible on the air, hence the debate. And that’s not info-spectacle but a beautiful rehabilitation of the idea, of subjectivity, of opinion journalism which is rather rare on television.» The end of the news is an interview – “the last five minutes” – that the journalist-presenter-entertainer aged 41 concludes with a “keep fishing» as optimistic as it is enigmatic.

When mayonnaise turns sour

The formula works editorially, but fails in terms of audience. Hondelatte flirts with 20% market share (like Daniel Bilalian, his predecessor), but is crushed by Jean-Pierre Pernaut’s 50%. Habits are hard to change. When he is on vacation, it is Benoît Duquesne, a more traditional journalist and old news veteran who replaces him: the structure of the newspaper remains the same, but the tone is more classic – minus the tie. Over the weeks, Christophe Hondelatte adds little touches, making the information even more spectacular, but nothing works: the mayonnaise doesn’t take. And turns.

By accessing 13 Heures – and its two million followers – the journalist enters a new world. We are interested in him. We ask him for photos and autographs. Worse, colleagues are investigating him. What are his habits? Who are his friends? His enemies ? Who is this famous: “Keep fishing” addressed to? Caught in the media whirlwind Hondelatte drifts. A paper will set fire to the powder. “Cathode Faculty” title Libé in his portrait of January 28, 2005. “Christophe Hondelatte, 42, tries to impose his boy scout style on France 2’s 1 p.m. show and makes the big gap between his faith and his early vocation as a presenter“, we can read. The journalist describes a temperamental presenter facing an editorial staff shocked by the methods of a “kindly reactive, totally uneducated and takes pride in it“. “His desire is law», Adds a former member of the channel. The allusions to his private life, his son and his visits to prison, send him into a tailspin. Everything is happening very quickly. The same day, he announced that he was unable to present the 1 p.m. Benoît Duquesne, in the middle of editing an issue of “Complement of investigation», is called to the rescue. In the afternoon, the head of information, Arlette Chabot, definitively excluded Hondelatte from the presentation. “He is subject to very strong media pressure. He had a bad experience with this exhibitionjustifies Chabot in Le Figaro. I regret that he is so sensitive to external elements. We were no longer in the professional register. He posed a serious problem for us. However, we need guarantees.»

Holder joker… then dismissed

The joker from Hondelatte inherits a newspaper that is unlike him. “For my part, I hadn’t asked for anything in particular”, he dares. He is in full light. He doesn’t put his tie back on. The journalist, an outstanding investigator, tries as best he can to reach the end of the season. His audiences are neither better nor worse than those of his predecessor who swears, through the press, that journalism for him is over. The season is over. During the summer, France 2 tested jokers to replace the promoted joker: Olivier Galzi and David Boeri. But amazement during the summer: Benoît Duquesne is not renewed and is replaced by Élise Lucet. He doesn’t even find his place as a substitute. Duquesne continued to develop “Complément d’investigation”, a landmark show, until his tragic death in 2014.

The incumbent, for his part, leads his career in a zigzag: he continues his magazine “Bring in the Accused” before leaving it in full success, returns to journalism by returning to the RTL morning show, tries his hand at singing, returns to crime, etc. The article of Release Is he the only one responsible for this tantrum? “ It was a very bad experiencehe detailed in 2021 on Europe 1. A newscast is a machine where everyone decides for you, especially above. When you arrive in the morning everything is decided, you have no control over your newspaper. We don’t decide anything!» In TV, as in poker, those who win are always those who enhance the game they inherited.