I guess I’ll be paying a bit more attention to JPP when I catch him at weekends or in the holiday period. The news in France has a quality about it that I feel is sadly lacking on channels I can get here like Sky News and BBC World. I miss a couple of the ITN guys though, like Peter Sissons and of course Trevor McDonald. I don’t know if they’re still broadcasting though.

-Fruey

A very perceptive piece. I particularly liked your observations about the wider cultural dimension one finds on French TV news. If anything, this is even more true of TF1′s 1pm bulletin than it is of the “Vingt Heures” in the evening. On the face of it, the two bulletins are similar: same set, same opening titles, etc., but the lunchtime broadcast has a subtly more relaxed feel. This is due in no small way to its lead anchor, the avuncular Jean-Pierre Pernaut (like PPDA, known universally by his initials, JPP). This is partly because of the way he presents the news – friendly and easy-going, often amused and sometimes amusing (I remember him once producing a sprig of mistletoe and blowing a kiss to the viewers at the end of his last broadcast before Christmas), but never in a flippant or inappropriate way, always managing to come across with authority. More importantly, however, it is because of the content of the bulletin, which – very much influenced by Pernaut personally, it is said – always reserves some space for human interest stories from around provincial France. These are real human interest stories – not the proverbial skateboarding hamsters or whatever which used to go out “and finally” on the old ITN News at Ten in the UK, but informative snapshots of France’s traditional ways of life, its culture and heritage, its artisans and their crafts. JPP gathers these wonderful portraits together in a dedicated magazine show which also goes out on TF1 and is very popular. He has also produced two beautiful books on the subject, entitled “Les Magnifiques Metiers de l’Artisanat”. One of his main collaborators in these projects died over the New Year, and JPP presented a very moving tribute on the 13 Heures bulletin, when he seemed genuinely close to tears. I think it was the only time I have ever seen him deliver the news without his big, friendly smile. I think it was then that I realised why I like JPP so much, because you feel that it is a real human being on the screen. But he is no fool – in fact he has been on the Board of Directors of TF1, as one of the two staff nominees, for many years. Before finishing my comments about the 13H news, a mention in passing for JPP’s main stand-in on the lunchtime bulletin, Jacques Legros, who also delivers the news in a friendly, sincere and reassuring style and is also very popular. The Vingt Heures carries a little more gravitas, I suppose, and a smile comes much less easily to PPDA’s features. But is this just the house style or is it that PPDA has had so much sadness in his life (e.g. the early deaths of two of his daughters, one of them famously in an annorexia-driven suicide)? My French fiancee tells me that the younger PPDA’s on-screen demeanour was a little bouncier, anyway. He certainly has a unique style of anchoring these days, peering up through those sad eyes and almost appearing to back away from the camera sometimes, looking like a timid rabbit, but always somehow commanding complete authority, with that rich, resonant voice, the whispered tail-offs and the gentle, unperturbed delivery. There is something almost mystical in the way PPDA delivers the news – and, you know, occasionally one does get a glimmer of a smile too. All in all, TF1 has a fine team (honourable mention for Claire Chazal, too), which certainly beats all the absurdities on modern-day UK news, with all THEIR emphases IN the wrong PLACes.

Orikinla – Indeed the Boulevard de Clichy is actually in Montmartre and Pigalle, and goes from the Place de Clichy to Barbes at least. It’s actually mostly filled with sex shops and of course the famous Moulin Rouge is there too. While there are a couple of interesting little theatres and shops along the boulevard, I’d recommend going further up the hill to Sacré Coeur and walking around that area, since down on the actual Boulevard there isn’t as much to see – unless you like sex shops of course .

Just on BE a fellow blogger was talking about France and a virtual French tour and I was going to talk about The Boulevard de Clichy,a street in Montmartre, the artists’ neighborhood, because I dream of going there to write a novel.

Van Gogh painted the Boulevard de Clichy as seen from the Place Blanche. And I am also an artist.

How are the Nathan and Yasmina doing?

That’s a good question. Basically I’m not particularly aware of political leanings. I would assume that there are some notable political undercurrents just like everywhere else, but I wouldn’t say it’s as obvious as the cases of Fox or CBS. Just like the BBC in England prides itself on political neutrality, so the French have even legally adopted a “principe de référence” – a sort of share of voice for all political parties.

From an excellent French Media Landscape article

The independent Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) was created in 1989. It appoints the CEO’s of the public broadcasting channels – both television and radio. In accordance with European regulation, the CSA also monitors the degree of political pluralism on national television. Since 2001, TF1, France 2, France 3, Canal + and M6 are submitted to the so called principe de référence. According to this principle, channels are obliged to allow exactly as much speaking time to representatives of the government, members of the parliamentary majority and members of the parliamentary opposition.

The group Bouyges owns 40%+ of TF1 so clearly they may have an underlying political point to make. France 2 and France 3 are state run channels, so may be inclined to side with the incumbent government but should be held to the “principe de référence”. The other three channels are much less political, the exception being Canal+ for the news parody mentioned in the original post. Canal+ is owned by Vivendi.