Often more in-depth subjects and a major daily report: the 8 p.m. news on France 2 has been extended to an hour since Monday, to better “take the time to provide information” in “a complex world.”
Presenter Anne-Sophie Lapix kicked off the new format, which was just announced on Wednesday by France Télévisions but has been in preparation for months.
Emotion in Grenoble after a municipal agent was killed, the construction sites of the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier, a large beach at the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with Tony Estanguet as guest: the rhythms alternated, sometimes giving the news the appearance of a news magazine.
Launching the “Grand format” of 8:00 p.m. on life in a Ukrainian city at war, Anne-Sophie Lapix promised “every day” such an unpublished report, in France or abroad. One of the authors of Monday’s, Anaïs Hanquet, came to give details on set on what she observed, before a subject on “fear in Russian territory” came to provide a counterpoint.
The news will be “richer”: “it will take the time to step back and explain” the various subjects covered, with more reports, analyses, experts and specialist journalists on set, the public group’s news director, Alexandre Kara, had previously explained.
From Friday to Sunday, with Laurent Delahousse at the helm, the second part will be devoted to magazine topics rather than the news of the day.
According to Mr. Kara, it is “vital” to “take the time for information.”
“This probably goes against the grain of an era of shortcuts,” according to the president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte Cunci. But “the French people’s demand to understand and decipher the world has increased tenfold.”
This new format of 8:00 p.m. includes the weather and climate news. Until now, the 8:00 p.m. news lasted between 35 and 40 minutes and has now been extended by a good quarter of an hour.
France Télévisions believes it can “attract new audiences to the news”. The 8pm news on France 2 has lost ground since January compared to that of TF1, presented by Gilles Bouleau during the week and Anne-Claire Coudray at the weekend.
Over the first six months of 2024, TF1 attracted 5.3 million viewers (27.3% of audience share) compared to 4.1 million for France 2 (21% of audience share).
To ensure the additional airtime dedicated to news, resources have been released from other programs, France Télé claims.
The extension of the 8:00 p.m. news slot on France 2 will not delay the broadcast of subsequent programs, the public group assured. The antenna was returned on Monday at 8:53 p.m.
The fact that evenings start after 9 p.m. on all channels in the French audiovisual landscape is a recurring cause of discontent among viewers.
The extra time for the news was freed up by the broadcast of the daily soap opera “Un si grand soleil” on France 3, whereas it was previously broadcast on France 2 at 8:40 p.m. just after the news.
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