"France Télévisions is in mourning today". It is with these words that Delphine Ernotte, the patron of the public television group, paid tribute to Hervé Bourges, who died on Sunday February 23, at the age of 86, in a Parisian hospital. This great media figure had founded France Télévisions in 1992, bringing together under one roof the old Antenne 2 and FR3, renamed for this occasion France 2 and France 3.
A message that adds to many other tributes. TF1 thus praised the one who chaired the chain from 1983 to its privatization. "It helped make TF1 a big popular channel," the company said in a statement. “Hervé Bourges was, by far, the greatest of the chairmen of chains Sometimes immodest but brilliant, demanding but benevolent. Added the journalist Bruno Masure, to whom Hervé Bourges had entrusted the presentation of the 8 pm.
A “demanding and fair” leader
"Hervé Bourges was and will remain immense", launched meanwhile Nagui, the host of France Inter and France 2. The television man had also directed the radio station RFI. For his part, the former boss of Radio France and the National Audiovisual Institute Mathieu Gallet paid tribute on Twitter to a man "demanding and fair".
Hervé Bourges had also been the head of the Superior Audiovisual Council from 1995 to 2001. In a press release, the institution stressed that "he will remain as a great humanist, a committed spectator of movements in the world and in time, a generous and benevolent servant ”.
"Man of convictions"
In addition to his prominent roles in the media, Hervé Bourges was also an anti-colonial activist during the Algerian war. He had signed in 2012 a last documentary “Algeria in the test of power”, with the director Jérôme Sesquin.
The Minister of Culture Franck Riester paid tribute to a "man of convictions, talented leader endowed with an outstanding strategic sense. Hervé Bourges has left a lasting mark on French audiovisual media ”.
Lover of the Francophonie and Ambassador to Unesco
Many of the messages also highlight Hervé Bourges' commitment to the Francophonie. "We who admired him, have appealed to him, have counted many times on his invaluable assistance, his opinions on the media or on the rule of law, are deeply saddened", notably reacted on Twitter Michaelle Jean, former envoy UNESCO special mission for Haiti and former secretary general of La Francophonie. "To you my old brother, I feel an immense pain for your departure," said the Cameroonian artist Manu Dibango.
Born May 2, 1933 in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine, north-west), Hervé Bourges graduated from the Lille School of Journalism (ESJ) in 1955. His life was then a long journey between media, politics and same diplomacy. He was indeed a French ambassador to Unesco.
Culture
Hervé Bourges, great figure of the media and the Francophonie, died at 86
- France Televisions
- Media