A small revolution in news on France 2: the traditional 8 p.m. news broadcast will be extended to last an hour, in order to “take the time” to “decipher” a “complex world”, France Télévisions announced on Wednesday.
“Starting next week, you will find an hour of news between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.,” declared the public group’s information director, Alexandre Kara, during the major back-to-school conference.
This new format of 8:00 p.m. will begin on September 9 and will include the weather and climate news. Until now, the 8:00 p.m. news lasted between 35 and 40 minutes.
“We are going to give more time to the 8pm news because it is more necessary than ever in the complex environment that we have,” argued Mr Kara, according to whom it is “vital” to “take the time to provide information.”
“This probably goes against the grain of an era of shortcuts,” stressed the president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte Cunci. According to her, “the French people’s demand to understand and decipher the world has increased tenfold.”
The 8:00 p.m. news on France 2 is presented during the week by Anne-Sophie Lapix and at the weekend by Laurent Delahousse.
This extension “does not mean that we will lose pace”, assured Ms Lapix, promising “long reports to take the pulse of society”, as well as “more investigations”.
“We are not going to choose to process more information, but to process it better,” added Mr. Kara.
“The idea is to extend the subjects when necessary”, with supporting reports and “more people on the set”, such as “experts and specialist journalists”, he explained.
“The idea is not to leave people alone when faced with information that is sometimes complex and often indigestible,” insisted the director of information at France Télévisions.
According to him, there will be “two turns” of this new news, “a rather week” from Monday to Thursday, and a “more weekend” from Friday to Sunday, where the second part will be devoted to magazine subjects.
The extension of the 8 p.m. news slot on France 2 will not delay the broadcast of subsequent programs, and could even bring it forward compared to what it is currently, the public group assured.
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.
“Prime time will start at 9:05 p.m.,” promised France Télévisions’ number 2, Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez.
According to him, “the additional space” was created 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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