INTERVIEW
It was she who invented the news coverage "continuously", at the heart of events: the continuous news channel CNN celebrates its 40th anniversary. The opportunity for Melissa Bell, correspondent for the chain in Paris, to discuss on Europe 1 the work of the station and the live arrest of one of its reporters, Omar Jimenez, while he was covering the protests on Friday riots in progress in Minneapolis, after the death of George Floyd.
A "spectacular" direct symbol of a "new way of doing things"
According to her, what was new to the creation of CNN was precisely to "be able to broadcast things to the whole world, and follow everything live, to have a correspondent at the heart of the action who comments live", whereas 'before the news was covered with "a lot of distance, hindsight". "This distance was filled by this new way of doing the news. And we saw it spectacularly on Friday morning. The arrested reporter managed it with absolute calm, a lot of patience, and very quickly the authorities had to react to what was a total aberration, "reacted the Franco-British journalist.
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According to Melissa Bell, this aberrant television moment clearly demonstrated "how tense the situation on the ground was at that time, and how difficult it is for the authorities to manage, to make sense of things".
For the moment, the chain "is still trying to get answers" on the reason for this arrest. "He was quickly released, the governor of the state took full responsibility, it was resolved very quickly. We do not know exactly why, when he repeated to them that he was live, the police of the 'State chose to stop it: in my opinion, it's more a blunder than anything else. "
CNN headquarters attack live
A little later, CNN headquarters in Atlanta was attacked by a group of dozens of people who threw an explosive grenade in the lobby. Inside the building, some of the windows of which are broken, a chain reporter stands behind armed and helmeted police, and again reacts live. "This is our house, we come to work here every day. Journalists try to deliver information, and demonstrators come here to pour out their anger and frustration, not only on the police but also on our headquarters," said- he especially.
The front of CNN Center in Atlanta was the scene of violent protests on Friday evening that resulted in damage to the front of the building and inside https://t.co/Uz5PsPdoNDpic.twitter.com/TsIsu9LCbn
- CNN (@CNN) May 30, 2020"The images were extraordinary," says Melissa Bell. In the complex that houses the CNN headquarters are also the premises of the local police of this Atlanta district, "and at first we thought that it was against them that the demonstrators were turning," said she. "But we also heard from the protesters criticism of the news channels that continue to encourage with their covers these problems."
CNN is however not considered, like Fox News, as a supporter of Donald Trump. According to Melissa Bell, this is explained by the fact that "people's frustration is palpable and turns against all the symbols of everything that has happened in recent days. It is very difficult to see how this anger can subside ", she concludes.