these comments from David Pujadas and Apolline de Malherbe on “extreme” parties do not pass

MEDIA – The weight of words becomes even heavier during election periods. Journalists David Pujadas and Apolline de Malherbe were invited to the set of the show Daily this Friday, June 28, the day before the first round of the legislative elections. The opportunity to question their practices during this very sensitive period, respectively on the LCI and BFM/RMC channels.

So, the presenter of the “24 hours Pujadas” and formerly of the France 2 television news, explained that he no longer directly uses the term ” far right “ to designate the National Rally when leading the debate ahead of the European elections.

“Studying the extreme right in Europe, I saw what Geert Wilders proposed in the Netherlands, what the AFD proposed in Germany… And I saw the gap that separated these parties from the RN”he explains to Yann Barthès. “At home it’s the extreme right, elsewhere it’s the extreme extreme right? »he then questions, to finally justify using the formula “what we call extreme right” rather than the qualifier directly.

The presenter of the RMC morning show, Apolline de Malherbe adds: “I have no problem with that, but at this point we have to talk about the extreme right and the extreme left”, she explains. For her part, the journalist prefers to refer to the parties by their names, without deliberately qualifying them. Two positions which made many of their fellow journalists jump this Saturday, June 29.

The sequence sparked a wave of indignation

“The shame is total,” Nassira El Moaddem, a journalist for the specialist media, says on X (ex-Twitter) Twitter Freeze framesdeploring “the normalization of fascists live, before our eyes, explained quietly with the comfort of those who think they fear nothing from a racist and discriminatory policy”. Journalist Salhia Braklhia, face of the France Info morning show, also warns, with a quote from Albert Camus: “To name things badly is to add to the misfortune of the world. »

“This is symptomatic of a practice of journalism which is content with commentary and on-the-spot reactions rather than in-depth work on party stories and projects,” comments in turn Abel Mestre, journalist at Monde.

The founding journalist of the political newsletter ReleaseSylvain Chazot finally tackles: “to still be surprised in 2024 by the moral and journalistic decline of these two clowns, that is perhaps the most surprising thing”.

A third journalist relies… on the Council of State

But what word should we then use to actually designate the National Rally and the New Popular Front (NFP), which brings together the PS, the PCF, EELV and LFI? The answer is not that complex, if we stick to the most official sources.

So, as Le HuffPost As explained in a previous article, the strategy of the New Popular Front (NFP), its values ​​and its program make it a radical left-wing party.

Within this alliance – rebalanced in favor of the Socialist Party in relation to the Nupes – insoumise France undoubtedly remains the most tense component, notably due to its “brutality” in the public debate. However, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party is not classified in the category ” leftmost ” by the Ministry of the Interior during the various elections, even if his supervisory minister Gérald Darmanin has several times used this term regarding LFI in his public statements.

Furthermore, the Council of State issued an opinion on the matter very recently, in March 2024, which is a reference. Referred to by the National Rally, the highest court of the administrative order had then confirmed the classification of the party under the label ” far right “and recalled at the same time that LFI and the PCF are classified ” to the left “and therefore not to the extreme left.

It is precisely on this decision that the journalist Yaël Goosz, also invited on the set of Daily, explained to rely on to do his job. “I simply rely on the Council of State, which placed the RN in the far right but not LFI in the far left,” indicated the head of the political service of France Inter. In response to Yaël Goosz’s response, Apolline de Malherbe wished, on X, to extend this debate by explaining her point of view and the reason why she ” the habit of calling parties by their names ».

Finally, it remains to be clarified that NFP has made a place for the extreme left in its alliance, by integrating the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) and the candidacy of Philippe Poutou in Aude. But its weight remains residual, with one constituency out of 577.

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