Nagui reveals the recipe of France Télévisions to differentiate itself in terms of entertainment, in response to a question from a deputy
Interesting revelation and quite rare in the investigative commission. During his tumultuous hearing at the National Assembly on Wednesday, April 1, presenter Nagui took advantage of a question from ecologist deputy Sophie Taillé-Polian to reveal the red lines that France Télévisions sets for itself in terms of game shows.
Since the beginning of the hearings, members of the investigative commission on the neutrality, operation, and financing of public broadcasting have been very interested in the entertainment mission of public broadcasting. This Wednesday, facing the presenter of Don’t Forget the Lyrics and Everyone Wants to Take Their Place, the opportunity was perfect.
“When you propose products that have not yet been realized, do you offer different products to the public service and private channels?” asked the deputy. Nagui’s response? “On the difference between private and public, I’ve been in both. For example, in a game, in a game rule, in the public service, it is out of the question that there is any randomness, or any luck, a draw, a wheel that spins and stops on a million. That will never exist,” he replied frankly, thus differentiating the programs of private channels such as Wheel of Fortune or Deal or No Deal from those of public service, such as Questions for a Champion.
As he explains, “it’s always merit, work, knowledge, general culture, heritage” that counts. “These are values that are represented.”
Some may counter him with Intervilles or Fort Boyard, broadcast on France 2. But Nagui stands his ground and explains. “Formal for Intervilles, which is a fun game, an entertainment, they are values of sport, surpassing oneself, it’s timed, it’s races, it’s a wall of champions, festive events, but which correspond to our heritage and our values,” he outlined.
Nagui recalls the triptych of France TV
“In private, where I have been, you have to get ratings. And you have to get ratings every minute so everything has to be entertainment, tension, twists,” Nagui recognizes that “these values can be kept on public service, but there is a requirement for that in private where we totally tolerate the fact that a candidate draws an envelope by chance. ‘What’s in the envelope? Here, bravo, you won, it’s over!'”
“This can never happen on public service,” he affirmed again in front of the president, his rapporteur, and all the deputies present to question him.
This direct response from the presenter, very different from the rest of this confrontation-filled hearing, was also praised by the commission’s president Jérémie Patrier-Leitus. “Your response was particularly valuable to understand what makes the specificity of public broadcasting and what entertainment and games should be like on its channels. It was an opportunity for Nagui to recall in conclusion the ‘triptych of public service,’ which is ‘to entertain, educate, inform,’ you can put it in whichever order you want. Generally, it is said: ‘inform, cultivate, entertain,’ but that’s really what is asked of us.”
