In a letter addressed Thursday, June 26 to the president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, journalists from the Radio France Investigation Unit are concerned about stopping the weekly version of the program Secrets d’info on France Inter. The information director, Céline Pigalle, has thus indicated in recent days to the cell that their half-hour investigation magazine, broadcast every Saturday, will no longer be weekly. Instead, he will come back once a month now, in the program of the major Sunday reports Interceptionwhich will now be embodied by Fabienne Sintes (the latter also retains the animation of 18/20).
A decision which therefore revolts the Investigation Unit of Radio France: “The decision to pass Secrets d’info of a weekly diffusion at a monthly pace cannot be considered as a simple grid adjustment, they write to Sibyle Veil in this text consulted by Libération. This change constitutes a clear weakening of the only investigation program of the public radio service. ”
The signatory journalists recall in this letter the work of the investigation cell led by Jacques Monin, then by Benoît Collombat, for ten years, in particular his revelations “On Takata airbags, Father Pierre, parliamentary assistants of the Modem or Nestlé mineral waters.” “Public service has a duty to guarantee auditors an investigation meeting per week, Add members of the investigation cell. Its almost space sends a signal to the listeners who will prejudice the credibility of all the editorial offices of Radio France. The questioning of the investigation cannot be perceived other than as empirical evidence that journalists of the public service can no longer invest freely.»
Internally, the cell made up of five journalists is supported by journalists and radio France unions. “This relaunches our motion’s desires [de défiance]», thus underlines a trade unionist. Opposite, Céline Pigalle explained her decision at NEW OBS : “Journalists are so devoured by the show that they do not always have the capacity to take the subjects that arise in the news, which are necessary because they must feed Secrets d’info.»
Faced with the fears of journalists to be absorbed this time by news, Pigalle assures that it will not leave “Writings call them urgently of the day for the next day” : “I guarantee that their time to do investigations will be preserved. I believe that it is also necessary to have time to look for … without always finding. I will offer them a review clause in the fall to watch, together, how this new configuration works. ”
Finally, on fears for the place of investigation at Radio France, while public audiovisual remains the main place of the PAF to invest in surveys, in particular on political or economic powers, Céline Pigalle retorts that her decision does not translate “Not at all a recovery. If I wanted to hide the investigation, I wouldn’t do that ”.
The fact remains that on the side of the employees of France Inter, we can see with a bad eye this new attack on an independence marker, the investigation, after the reduction in recent seasons of the place granted to the antenna to other historical markers of the station, such as political satire or environmental struggles. Especially since this decision comes two years from a new presidential election, and in the context of a public audiovisual reform in debate in the National Assembly from Monday, June 30.
