“Listen stop, we’re going to stop.” It was with these words that two BFMTV presenters ended an interview with Rima Hassan, this Tuesday, October 8. The LFI MEP was the guest of BFM Story, a program presented by Alain Marschall and Olivier Truchot.
During her interview, Rima Hassan criticized the channel’s editorial line, returning to the words of a spokesperson for the Israeli army. “I simply want to denounce the fact that you were congratulated by Olivier Rafowicz, spokesperson for the Israeli army, a genocidal army, for your editorial line. It is very important for me to denounce this during this interview because it says a lot about your editorial line on this subject.“, she says, in duplex. And continues: “Sooner or later you will be held accountable as a media“.
Tension then rises quickly and exchanges flow between the presenters and the MEP. “You can’t start by attacking usretorts Olivier Truchot. You question the editorial line of BFMTV.” Alain Marschall calls out to Rima Hassan: “What does accountability mean? Before whom, before what?“. Finally, the presenters end this interview hastily.
The MEP quickly protested about this treatment of X. “The journalists immediately cut off the interview and I am censored in the legitimate criticism I make“, she wrote.
The two presenters reacted in turn, on the same social network. “When we lie and threaten us, yes we cut!” souligne Alain Marschall.
Olivier Truchot writes: “You say anything about the editorial line of our channel. But whatever the truth, the goal was to get your little moment of buzz.”
The matter does not end there since the Society of Journalists of BFMTV (SDJ) published a press release in which it “deplores the questioning of the work of the editorial staff by the MEP on her coverage of the conflict“. “Last weekend, we twice broadcast a long-format investigation which testifies to the terrible damage inflicted on Gaza by Israeli bombing, and questions the proportionality of the IDF’s response. The investigation carried out with Palestinian journalists based in Gaza, was also strongly contested on set by the spokesperson for the Israeli army Olivier Rafowicz, interviewed without concession on the air. The SDJ regrets that a sentence pronounced by Olivier Rafowicz during this interview was taken out. its context and used to take BFMTV and the work of its editorial team to task.”
The channel’s management also expressed a “focus” pour “recall the rigorous, impartial and balanced work of its editorial staff“.
