Staff mock France's star news man

If you are interested in modern France it is impossible to avoid the phenomenon of PPDA. Patrick Poivre d'Arvor is the country's dominant newsman. For Americans, he would be Dan Rather and Peter Jennings rolled into one with a dash of Barbara Walters too. For 20 years PPDA's nightly 8pm news broadcast on TF1 has been the main source of news for millions of French, far ahead of France 2, the public network. "If it wasn't on TF1, it didn't happen," the bosses of TF1 like to say.

PPDA, a debonair, literary man with a voice that the comedians love to imitate, has weathered many a storm and shows little sign of nearing the end of his term as king of the news ratings.

The self-important anchorman is now in the midst of a new fuss with a book by five staffers on his team that skewers their news operation as incompetent and slavishly pro-Sarkozy and mocks PPDA as a lazy, tyrannical prima donna.

The chiefs of France's biggest television network are trying to identify the anonymous writers of "Madame, Monsieur, Bonsoir", which has turned into an instant best-seller. PPDA, 60, rules his 100-strong editorial staff like a dictator but routinely arrives up to an hour late for morning conferences, write the five, who use a collective pen-name Patrick Le Bel.

"He is irascible. Everyone is on the look-out for his rages. They are feared, destructive and wounding," they say.  No journalist dares contradict him or make a joke. When a young reporter asked for more air time with a story, he snapped: "Consider that on my news, just your voice behind pictures is already an immense privilege."

Poivre d'Arvor, who has presented the flagship news programme since 1987 and is also a best-selling writer, is vain, using his summer holidays for facelifts and to transplant more hair to remedy his baldness. PPDA is also jealous of Harry Roselmack, a young newsreader -- France's first black in the job -- who has enjoyed great success standing in for the star in the summer, the writers say..  The book also reports how PPDA likes to be given free holidays and entertainment by corporate sponsors. 

The writers' main theme is the well-known favourable news treatment given to Sarko and his administration by TF1,  whose main shareholder is Martin Bouygues, a close friend of the President and godfather to his son.

The channel's friendliness towards Sarkozy was an issue in last year's presidential campaign, when Ségolène Royal and François Bayrou, the two other main candidates, accused it of campaning for him. The channel is known in the political world as "Télé Sarko".

The book reports that Sarkozy treats the network as if it is his own. On the night of his election last May,  Poivre d'Arvor and Claire Chazal, who presents the weekend news, were toasting his victory with champagne an hour before any results were reported. At one stage, when the presenters were supposed ot be scrupulously neutral as voters were still going to the polls, a champagne glass appeared onscreen beside Chazal. 

Fear of offending Sarko caused the channel to scrap an exclusive interview with the drug-dealer brother of Rachida Dati, the Justice Minister and friend of the President, the journalists write.  PPDA, whose authoritative style and popularity have enabled him to weather damaging episodes in the past, came under fire in December for refusing to broadcast any word of  Sarkozy's new relationship with Carla Bruni, the former super-model and singer.

"My decision was that private life is not a matter for the news," PPDA explained.  "We received no orders." For two weeks, lesser broadcast  networks and all the print media were giving saturation cover to the Sarko-Carla story while TF1 stayed silent.

The news presenter, who is the editor of his weekday broadcast, said that he believes that the book could not have been written by any of his colleagues. "I am persuaded that all this is false and it is not TF1 people who have written this book. I am convinced because I know the relationship I have with each journalist. " The publishers insisted, however, that TF1 staff were the authors and insiders at the channel confirmed the anecdotes related in the book.

Poivre d'Arvor, whose latest book was about Diana, Princess of Wales, suffered two serious blows to his image in the 1990s. In the first, in 1991, he admitted faking an interview with Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader. He inserted his questions into an interview that Castro had given to Cuban television. In 1996, he received a suspended prison term and  large fine for receiving the proceeds of embezzled funds. The case arose from trips and entertainment that he accepted from a corrupt buinessman who was close to the political world.

Sarkozy's close relations with Bouygues and TF1 were in the news again last week whe the President unexpectedly announced that he was ending advertising on France 2, which is state-owned.  His decision was greeted by some opponents as a ploy to boost TF1 because the network is expected to win the lion's share of commercials no longer broadcast on France 2. TF1 shares leaped within minutes of  Sarkozy's announcement, which he said was aimed at enabling France 2 to focus, "like the BBC"  more on quality than audience-pleasing popular entertainment.

That shows that Sarko is not very well informed about the BBC.    And I know I promised to lay off Sarko but this was not really about him.   
   
   

    

Comments

[isobel]

Well done Charles for finding another topic for discussion - it can't have been easy!
At the risk of upsetting Valentin I find PPDA a bit creepy.

[stephen Bull]

PPDA is certianly a phenomenon. I shall not forget his appearance with Chazal, as moderator of the Presidential debate. Introduced as being there to hold the ring and correct any inaccuracies, he said virtually nothing, let both candidates mis-state the level of nuclear energy in France, let Sego overrun (perhaps deliberately?)and just sat there goggle-eyed.

[alan morgan]

Well Charles, blown it now. No invitations to TF1. Although this article appears to have little to do with Sarkzo it has everything to do with the his reign. Perhaps a modern parable. Well done - a courageous effort.

[Thanks, Alan. As you say, no invitations to TF1, but I am on France 3 this evening in a programme (Christine Okrent) with Henri Gaino, Sarko's chief ideologist and speechwriter. I'll put a link to their site tomorrow because it was an interesting debate. CB]

[azloon/robert furlong]

CB: french republicans have you on the defensive about over-reporting on sarko ['And I know I promised to lay off Sarko but this was not really about him']

to paraphrase bill clinton in 1992, 'it's about sarko, stupid.'

sarko sums up france today. like it or not. can't get around the fact. even when the story is about someone else.

he is the napolean of his day: vain, clever, ruthless, tactical, sychophantic, obsessed with symbols. what's not to like about the guy? :)

PPDA wouldn't have survived his scandals (faking news, accepting bribes) in most other countries. he would have been fired on the spot in the u.s. (though he possibly might have ended up in some other new organization later if he could still draw good ratings).

his refusal to broadcast news about carla because it was essentially a private matter ought to please Dominique and Valentin whom i am certain must be fans of PPDA.

the champagne glass on the news set at sarko's apparent victory is mind-boggling. methinks france has a way to go in the objective news department.

[Helen]

Nice post, Monsieur Bremner :) When the Sarko/Bruni story broke, I remember the Petit Journal on Canal+ quoting PPDA as saying that he did not want to expose a private matter on TV..this was immediately followed by a clip of the TF1 headlines the day after the legislative elections - the top story being the break-up of the "couple Royal-Hollande".....

[dot king]

I once made the mistake of buying one of his novels - whatever else he is, PPDA isn't a good writer. I had the impression of reading outright derivatives of current "faits divers" put together between two news bulletins, bound and sold as literature. I think it was called "un enfant". I don't recommend it to discerning readers.
An indifferent story, indifferently told.

So Mr Smoothie isn't what he appears then? I don't watch (or rarely) TF1, so won't have picked up on anything in particular, though he gets around as a guest promoting his books - the latest one with his brother on sailing, I think.
Lots of success with les dames, his last (unless I've lost track - quite possible) was a very sharp young novelist aged about 25.

[Jorg Andersen]

I agree. This guy is another French exception. An anchorman who is now 60, soft-spoken and intellectual and remains the chief news authority in the nation, not to mention heart-throb. His softball questions with presidents and politicians au pouvoir are obviously part of what keeps him in the job. His news broadcast live from Sarkozy's office at the palace last summer was worthy of the days of Castro or Brejnev. Sometimes, I think that France really is still "the Soviet Union that worked", as someone once said.

[Lily]

"I once made the mistake of buying one of his novels."- "I think it was called "un enfant"." (Dot King)

I once made the mistake of buying one of his novels. It was called 'un enfant' (!)

PPDA - good first impression; but better to not look behind or beyond... - If hypocrisy had a name -

[Maggie G]

Well, this story is new to me! I hadn't heard anything about this "Madame, Monsieur, Bonsoir" book.

I'm not that keen on PPDA, and had heard that he is vain and dictatorial, but here's a little story that shows he CAN be nice.

He was on the same Paris-Nice flight as my son a few years ago, and my son asked if PPDA would pose beside him "for a photo for Mamy". PPDA kindly stood beside him and smiled while another passenger took the picture.

This must have been about seven years ago. Mamy has the photo on her fridge door to this day.

[Ros]

Have just this minute been looking at "Duel sur la 3" et didn't see you, Charles, & as I dislike Christine Ockrent, have decided to go to bed.(Perhaps you came on at the end - I couldn't record it as was already recording Tony Blair on France 5!)
Certainly PPDA is an odd and unlikeable person but one must remember that his daughter committed suicide in 1995 - that sort of thing does do something to parents.
[Iwas at the end, Ros. CB]

[Rocket]

About PPDA

I never understood how someone who could have such bad hair days could have such a big audience.
***********************************
I'm watching FR3 now but haven't heard you speak Charles. Seems like a lot of cacophony for the moment and C. Ockrent is having a hard time controlling the "ardeur" of some of her guests. Anyway, looks like a nice debate but sorry, I'm in the middle of NFL football. Dallas and NY Giants

[Valentin]

lol Isobel, well I do like his late night literary show Vol de nuit :o)

[Donald]

CB: " .. he admitted faking an interview with Fidel Castro. .. In 1996, he received a suspended prison term and large fine for receiving the proceeds of embezzled funds."

The fact that he not only did not lose his job over either one of these frauds - but in fact is the most watched TV newsman today - regretfully says more about France than PPDA.

[Daniel Strohl]

"The writers' main theme is the well-known favourable news treatment given to Sarko and his administration by TF1"

Yes, this favourable news treatment is rather obvious. But the writer(s), in order to be fair (quality of any good journalist), should not have forgotten also to point out that the state networks A2 and (mainly) FR3 favour the left, even if it is may be somewhat less obvious. I remember also similar Champagne glass happenings on one or the other of these two networks. However, this occurred already some years ago, since the left didn't win very important elections recently ...

I would like ads being removed from A2 and FR3, so as to be able to watch programs without being constantly interrupted. Every French household which has a (declared) TV set pays to the state a fee of approx. 115 € per annum. This should be sufficient to finance the state networks, in addition to the programs they can sell to foreign networks - of course provided they are good - and if they manage to reduce significantly their various operating costs. This is probably not out of reach ....

My compatriots who have no particular affection for intelligent entertainment and cultural programs could continue to watch TF1 (Star Academy and the like). Everybody would be happy.

[Jolly Swagman]

Ros:
"Certainly PPDA is an odd and unlikeable person but one must remember that his daughter committed suicide in 1995 - that sort of thing does do something to parents."

The Wikipedia (English version) says he presented the news the night of her death so if that's true then whatever it did to him it didn't interrupt his work... very sad.

(My French isn't up to ploughing through the French version of the PPDA page but reading this blog is certainly helping me learn. E.g. I now know that 'gangster' is masculine!)

[john o'doe]

With vanity and arrogance PPDA announced last year that he would step down from presenting the news on TF1 in 2012, when he will be 65. I was amazed to learn that he thinks he could last that long! He's already about the worst presenter on French TV, just a little better than his calamitous ex-girlfriend Claire Chazal. He may have been a good newsreader in the past but he's already struggling. Harry Rosenmack and Anne-Sophie Lapix have both demonstrated that the news on TF1 can be presented professionally without fluffs, misreading, hums and hahs and without appearing bored with half the stories.
PPDA's mistaken censorship of the Bruni story was obviously influenced by his own brushes with the paparazzi.

[christopher muir]

I sometimes watch PPDA on the TF1 internet site. His style is an enigma: it's quiet, (pillow-talk intimate) and almost intimidating in its whispered declarations. The French population seem to accommodate the regular appearance of this spooky figure with uncritical eyes and ears. Hopefully, one day a sagacious Left Bank philosopher will explain it all - another best seller, perhaps?

[Ros]

Jolly Swagman
You are indeed right that's what the Wikpedia english version says but nothing whatsoever on the french one. However, I found the following on a site I found in Google "1995 Patrick Poivre d'Arvor bouleverse des millions de téléspectateurs en apparaissant à l'écran au lendemain du suicide de sa fille Solenne. " ("lendemain" = the day after - I rather tend to believe this version although I'm english!

[Alex Blagona]

I just wish something like this could be dug up about Trevor McDonald.

[Rocket]

Daniel

"I would like ads being removed from A2 and FR3, so as to be able to watch programs without being constantly interrupted."

If you think French TV has a lot of commercials try American television.

French television is heaven compared

John O'Doe

"He's already about the worst presenter on French TV, just a little better than his calamitous ex-girlfriend Claire Chazal."

I remember Claire Chazal getting tearful on the 13:00 on Feb 1 2003 and nearly breaking down. The same day the shuttle Columbia was lost. I thought she was crying for the loss of the shuttle and as an American I really felt a sense of closeness and gratitude. BUT! in fact it came out the next day that she had had an argument with her boyfriend and couldn't get over it. I guess it was PPDA

[Dominique]

When PPDA appeared on the screen the day after his daughter died, some were admiring his "dedication to his job" and his "modesty" while others were criticizing his exhibitionism and lack of modesty.

Always the same never ending boring debates turning in cycle regarding famous people.

One needs to be aware that a medical house was build in Paris for teenagers having eating disorders with Mrs Chirac pièces jaunes. PPDA was asked for support. He did accept under the condition that the medical house would be named after his daughter. That's called "La maison de Solène". All the professionals and psychiatrists did worry and wrote in papers that it was a very bad idea to use this name as teenagers with eating disorders would identify with a girl who commited "esthetic" and "mediatic" suicide instead of identifying with a girl who managed to get better. It's a bit like naming "James Dean" an hospital for young men having car accidents!

But that was probably to much for PPDA's guilt and he forced the naming. He did spread ("il s'est répendu" in french) all his sorrow and guilt in papers and TV shows for a year, trying to make the public feeling guilty about his own failures with his daughter. He even made a book out of it : "lettre à Solène" that sold well.

PPDA is the symbole of what is wrong in France nowadays : an old man, at the end of his carrier, feeling guilty for what he did and did not, and exhibiting his own pain trying to make the public feel guilty about it.

The "Roselmack complex" is amazing. Just like Michel Drucker who once did complain that there are not enough black people on the screen, he did nothing to help eventhough he is almighty on France television. He even did everything to remain, accroché comme une moule à son rocher (like a muscle attached to her rock). It's easier to blame the global "french society" as a whole rather than making his job and promote young people! PPDA, Drucker, Ockrent and G.Durant.... : enough! stop blaming us for your own failures!

And the media, along with the public just buys : that has a name : le dolorisme.

[John Gregory Flinn]

"...aimed at enabling France 2 to focus, "like the BBC" more on quality than audience-pleasing popular entertainment.

That shows that Sarko is not very well informed about the BBC."

Charles congratulations, you saved the best for last!!

[D]

How this oleaginous sell-out bore has remain sur le petit écran is no surprise.
TF1 would have a smiling monkey presenting the news if he could keep on the State message. The viewers wouldn't notice, their brains have already been fried by the mind-numbing shows programmed on it.

[D]

stephen

It was Arlette Chabot in the débat présidentiel sitting next to PPDA, not Chazal. In France they don't confuse them, Arlette is the brains minus the beauty, she is in the back office, Chazal is the beauty minus brain, she can read the news with a vacant look in her eyes. He was a side-kick, keeping quiet, looking out for his future boss, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Watching the debate, I remember wondering why they had labelled 2 potiches, calling themselves journalists without dying of shame, "moderators".

[dot king]

PPDA aside, La Maison de Solenn is doing excellent work and breaking new ground with adolescent disorders, they have Professor Marcel Rufo to than for that.
IMO he is one of France's most impressive thinkers on problems requiring action and not abstraction.
BTW unusual and unexpected spelling "Solenn" taken from Pr Rufo's book.

[Rocket]

Dominique

"(like a muscle attached to her rock)."

I just hope that at my age my muscle stays attached to my rocks! (grin)

Thats mussel, Dominique

[Dominique]

Rocket,

Mussel yes! Oups! Nevetheless tight attached to his 20 heure!

[Dominique]

Dot King,

"La Maison de Solenn is doing excellent work and breaking new ground with adolescent disorders"

I'm sure they would do an even better job with an other name!

[dot king]

"I'm sure they would do an even better job with an other name!"

Dominique - is that just for argument's sake? No smiley, so perhaps not second degree . . .

I agree with you about all the pretentiousness of PPDA, though I wasn't aware that he had insisted for the naming of La Maison de Solenn.
But surely you can't be suggesting that the name of a hospital changes the quality of care administered?

[Dominique]

Dot King,

Of course i do suggest that the name of an hospital changes the quality of care administered! Especially regarding eating disorders for teenagers who are very much into "image" problem. The one you identify with does make a difference, and Solenn is clearly a bad one!

Would you call an hospital curing people who had a car accident "Ayrton Senna"?

Come on!

BTW : you could say the same about schools! the names of high shools or universities are very often named after people who do represent something positive. Rarely the opposite! Can you imagine making good teaching in a school named "Mickael Youn" or "Cauet"?

[dot king]

Dominique, you object to the naming of a hospital after Solenn, fair enough, especially if that was foisted on them. I take it that had the Solenn in question not been PPDA's late daughter, your objection would still stand - at least i hope this is the case.
But from there to state that THE TREATMENT the patients get is affected by the name is a big and illogical step.
I'm at present reading Pr Marcel Rufo's book "La vie en désordre" and I think it's safe to say that the adolescents who are treated at La Maison de Solenn are getting possibly the best treatment available in this country if not further afield.
Of course it isn't mentioned in the book that PPDA insisted on naming the hospitial so, nor is the naming of it mentioned at all.
I'm sure Pr Rufo would rather the hospital existed whatever the name, rather than not existing.
Would you rather there was no facility?
I take your point about the name, I even agree with it, but what do you expect me to say? Your school-name examples are extreme, unsurprisingly.
The school I work in has a name I'm not in harmony with (nowhere near), but that doesn't affect the way I do my job within it.

[dot king]

PS to Dominique: if you were a teacher in some other country and you didn't like the name of a school and felt you couldn't do good teaching there, you would have the choice of not going there and you could apply for posts in schools with nice names that would allow you to "make good teaching".
:)