It is 11:30 am. In a small room lined with screens connected to the info channels, the daily meeting begins. The France Info TV offices occupy a wing of the large glass building from France Télévisions, on the Seine quays in Paris. Around the table, the programmers, the editor, the new Roman director Messy … and Sonia Chironi, concentrated.
Here, the continuous info leaves no room for digressions. You have to decide quickly: what guests for tonight? What subjects in priority? “Before June 6, (date of reassignment of TNT channels, editor’s note), we were the 27 chain. We had to come to us. Today, we are on the 16th, many people fall on our channel. The challenge is to hold them back, ”she explains. And indeed, from the first week, the hearing gave rise. Sonia Chironi keeps her slice from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a denser formula: more newspapers, more stakeholders. The day before the launch, the stage fright rises. “But I said to myself,” You know how to do it. ” »»
A vocation born very early
And she knows how to do. Since childhood, the info captive. “Kid, I watched Anne Sinclair on Sunday evening. I did not understand everything, but I felt that it was there that it was happening. Very early on, I became interested in the things of the world. »»
After a license in law and political science in Lyon, she completed a first internship in France Bleu Armorique in Rennes – her maternal grandfather was from the region – where she covers Vieilles Charrues. “Despite the rain and the mud, it is a dazzling memory. The Bretons have an incredible sense of celebration, ”smiles the one who says Breton by adoption.
According to Wikipedia, she was born in Douarnenez. “I never set foot there,” she rectifies. Rather, she frequents Morgat, a small port of the Crozon peninsula, where her parents have an apartment and where she takes her children today. “My father is Sardinian. I find in these two places the same beauty of the coasts, the same turquoise water … even if it is colder here, “she laughs.
A forged career in the field
A graduate, she won the Charles-Lescaut Prize, which rewards a young journalist. Direction Jerusalem, as a freelancer, where she covers the 2006 Lebanese conflict. “I had never set foot in the Middle East, I wanted a major report. I went for it. She collaborates with Itele, who offers her a summer of replacements on the air. “I thought it would make my friends laugh. The experience pleases him, but with a flat. “I had trouble seeing myself on the screen. Over the years, she finds her place. “I am quieter with my image. And I love the life of an editorial staff. She will stay ten years in Itele, crossing the best as the worst. It is she who, the first, announces the shooting of Charlie Hebdo. Then comes 2016, the acquisition by Vincent Bolloré, the transformation into CNews. “I didn’t want to be part of this project,” she says. There followed a long strike, tensions, difficult separation.
France Télévisions, new step
After a remarkable passage in 28 minutes on Arte, then a magazine on LCI, the 45 -year -old journalist joined Franceinfo TV in 2023. In addition to the evening tranche, she recently replaced Laurent Delahousse. “It was not easy to accept. It’s a big machine, a huge responsibility. But it’s exciting, ”she said, shiny eyes. Last week, his name circulated for the 8 p.m., the position left vacant by Anne-Sophie Lapix. Finally, it is Léa Salamé who is chosen.
Beautiful player, Sonia Chironi will assure the interim of Lapix in early July, for two weeks, before replacing Laurent Delahousse all summer. “The playing field is vast. We will see what the future has in store for me. I have a lot of desires. And there are many possibilities in this beautiful house. »»
