TF1 13H presenter Jean-Pierre Pernaut on Monday took over orders for the country's most-watched midday television news, after having given the reins for 12 weeks to its lineup Jacques Legros, due to the crisis in coronavirus. "Very very happy to find you on the set of the newspaper," launched a "JPP" all smiles, before launching a subject devoted to the gloomy weather since the beginning of deconfinement.
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Duplex interventions during containment
The journalist, who celebrated his 70th birthday in April, had withdrawn from his television news on March 17, to respect confinement. A precautionary measure linked in particular to his age. But although confined to home, the presenter holder of the 13 hours of TF1 did not remain inactive: he made interventions in duplex, in the "13 hours at home", a chronicle which allowed him to continue to cultivate his links with viewers.
He notably criticized in April inconsistencies in the measures taken in the name of the fight against the Covid-19, on the wearing of masks, the rules for businesses varying from one sector to another or the contradictory statements on the reopening schools. "It all makes you dizzy," he launched live, an exit that had been praised by many Internet users.
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At the head of the 13 hours of TF1 since 1988
And it was he himself who announced his return last week to viewers via social networks and on the air, thanking Friday Jacques Legros for having directed the 13 hours during the past 12 weeks.
It is not the first time that Jean-Pierre Pernaut, at the head of the 13 hours of TF1 since 1988, and deputy director of information of the chain, was forced to be absent, even if this partial eclipse was particularly long. He had left the antenna for a few weeks in the fall of 2018 to treat prostate cancer.