1965-2025. After 60 years of journalism and 10 presidential elections, Alain Duhamel, a living memory of the Fifth Republic on television, announced on Monday, September 2, 2024, in “BFM Story,” that he would cease his media activities at the end of the season. The communication plan continues this Tuesday. Guest of “Face-à-face,” hosted this morning at 8:33 a.m. by Apolline de Malherbe on RMC and BFMTV, the political columnist gave several reasons for his departure from the channel.
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“I don’t like it when we’re on the same subject at the same time and on two competing channels”
Alain Duhamel initially decided to end his career for personal reasons.My wife has been asking me this every year for ten years and is asking it louder and louder.“, he confided. Before noting: “Then I find that at one point, there are too many more family members.“. If he refutes the term “idiot” of “dynasty” – “these are different branches”he retorts – Alain Duhamel assures that the overrepresentation of his family in the media space “played” in his decision.
“My brother (Patrice Duhamel, himself husband of Nathalie Saint-Cricq and father of Benjamin Duhamel, editor’s note), already under Giscard, I was on Channel Two, he was on Channel One and it was a political problem at the time“, recalls the columnist.”There my brother is on a very estimable channel but I don’t like it when we are at the same time on the same subject and on two competing channels.“, insisted the man who will celebrate his 85th birthday on May 31, 2025.”Age“finally prevailed in his decision to retire.”When you’re a certain age, you’re always afraid of not finding your words anymore.“. puremedias.com invites you to watch the sequence.
The living memory of the Fifth Republic
Alain Duhamel, who worked alongside Jean-Pierre Elkabbach in the PAF, hosted or participated in the most famous political programs such as “À armes égales” from 1970 to 1973 on the first channel of ORTF, “Cartes sur table” between 1977 and 1981 on Antenne 2, “Mots croisés” with Arlette Chabot, now an editorialist on LCI, between 1997 and 2001 and “100 minutes pour croire” between 2002 and 2005 with Olivier Mazerolle on France 2.
Presenting the debates between the two rounds of the presidential elections of 1974 – with Jacqueline Baudrier – and 1995 – with Guillaume Durand – the journalist more recently officiated on RTL alongside Marc-Olivier Fogiel, whom he followed when the latter took over as general manager of BFMTV in 2019.
