After the burial of Jean-Marie Le Pen, it's time for controversy. Sunday January 12, the day after the funeral celebrated at Trinité-sur-Mer (Morbihan), the far-right media Frontières ensures that “BFM tried to film the event by offering up to 5,000 euros to local residents to access their gardens, despite the family's ban”. This information, quickly relayed on social networks, was denied by the continuous news channel. CheckNews investigated the origin of this rumor and the alleged facts.
Sunday, at 10:47 a.m., Frontières publishes its “scoop” signed by a mysterious editor without a last name «Arnaud FT». He claims that BFM TV would have tried to obtain privileged access to funerals by offering money to residents. The article does not cite “on-line” sources, and simply says that it is exclusive information.
“This is unethical”
On the social network X, no trace of Arnaud FT. David Alaime and Jordan Florentin are responsible for praising the revelation of Frontières. «[EXCLU] According to my sources, the funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen was to take place in privacy. Journalists from BFM TV tried to break the latter by offering locals 5,000 euros to be able to film the church from their garden!” writes David Alaime, the communications director of Frontières.
At 1:38 p.m., BFM TV published a press release on “denies that journalists from the channel offered to rent gardens in La Trinité-sur-Mer to film the funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen. This is contrary to the journalistic ethics of the channel.” She also indicates that she is considering a complaint for defamation against Frontières, whom she accuses of disseminating false information.
Contacted by CheckNewsJordan Florentin, sent by Frontières to Trinité-sur-Mer, did not wish to put us in contact with David Alaime, but assures that their scoop comes from a “source off the National Rally”, informed by local residents who complained about the behavior of BFM TV journalists. According to the reporter from Frontières, the information would have “was given to almost all the press present on site”. This is disputed by our journalist Tristan Berteloot, who followed the funeral for Liberationas well as BFM journalist, Sophie Dupont. Concerning the content of the article, Jordan Florentin was unable to tell us whether the journalists' alleged canvassing concerned the homes overlooking the church or the cemetery.
Present at the funeral where she took care of the press, Caroline Parmentier, RN deputy and former press advisor to Marine Le Pen, delivers a different version to CheckNewsevoking “freelance journalists who posed as BFMTV. They offered 5,000 euros to residents whose homes were near the cemetery.. She claims that this information was known to the National Rally “from Friday”the day before the funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Caroline Parmentier specifies that the party immediately questioned the channel about these accusations, and that BFM TV responded to them on Friday denying the infirmation. Contradicting the declarations of Jordan Florentin, the member for Pas-de-Calais affirms that it is «impossible » that the pseudo scoop of Frontières “comes from the RN”, “because we checked first”.
Also interviewed by CheckNewsthe editorial director of BFM TV, Camille Langlade confirms the exchange. Friday evening, she says she was actually contacted by the RN about journalists who presented themselves as working for her channel and who would seek to film the burial of Jean-Marie Le Pen, from the houses overlooking the cemetery. “After checking internally, we told them that these are not our methods,” reports the journalist. The story could have ended there, but on Sunday the article from Frontières appeared, “without having contacted us” insists Camille Langlade.
Lack of checks
It was only at 4:31 p.m. that Erik Tegnér, editorial director of Frontières, contacted the channel's management, conceding that the information available to the media did not seem “not sufficient”and committing to removing the information “within an hour” without new evidence. To which Camille Langlade responded: “This information is completely false and defamatory, you can remove it now.”
At 7 p.m., Frontières updated its article reporting the channel's denial, and changed the title: “Funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen: an individual posing as a BFM journalist offered locals money to film from their homes.”
Contacted by CheckNewsErik Tegnér defends his good faith and claims to have been in contact with a local resident: “There is a person from the village, with whom I was in contact, who was contacted two days before the funeral, at the time when all the press, including us, thought that the church square would be banned from the press. We thought we couldn't even film the exterior. And so at that moment there was a 45-year-old journalist with a bald head, average height who knocked on the man and said to him: “I am a journalist from BFM TV and I am offering you 2,000 euros.” Asked about the fact that there is not really a garden, which overlooks the church square at La Trinité-sur-Mer, and about the absence of checks with BFM TV before the publication of the article, Erik Tegnér hung up on us, after accusing us of wanting to make him reveal his source.
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