Paris (AFP)
France 2 and France Inter will broadcast "All united for Lebanon" on Thursday, a special operation around a large live concert, in support of this country which is struggling to recover from the explosions that ravaged Beirut this summer.
This mobilization will be carried by public service figures, in particular Nagui and Léa Salamé, who both work on France 2 and France Inter.
The highlight of this mobilization, which will raise funds via the French Red Cross, which will donate them to the Lebanese Red Cross, will be a special evening live from the Olympia in Paris, with a concert at 9:30 p.m. under the leadership Ibrahim Maalouf which will bring together artists including Vianney, Florent Pagny, Clara Luciani, Hiba Tawaji, Ycare, Pascal Obispo, Bernard Lavilliers, Matthieu Chedid, as well as Sting and Mika.
"Given the great emotion that aroused many French people, and France and Lebanon being linked by an ancient history, we said to ourselves that we had to go further, and work on a global accompaniment around this concert ", especially with news programs to" contextualize this event ", explained to AFP Arnaud Ngatcha, director of special operations at France Televisions.
The evening will thus open on France 2 with a report by the editorial staff of Special Envoy in Beirut, launched by Elise Lucet, and the operation will be supported via multiple broadcasts and newspapers throughout the day on the group's channels (from " Télématin "to the regional offices of France 3), with duplexes from Léa Salamé from Beirut.
"There was tremendous momentum around this operation, and it generated a wider mobilization of the media and beyond the sector", underlines Arnaud Ngatcha: in addition to France Inter, which was associated with the initiative from the start , "France 24 will broadcast the concert on its platform and will relay it via subjects on its antenna, TV5 Monde will also broadcast the evening," he detailed.
On France Inter, the day will start with an interview with Léa Salamé live from Beirut, at 7:50 am.
She will also appear in "The Original Soundtrack" by Nagui.
And, before the concert, Fabienne Sintès' 6-8pm will open with a live "stroll" through Beirut, to take the pulse of the city and question the inhabitants.
The program will also give the floor to experts and political figures.
"It wouldn't have made sense, two months later, to do a big concert without going back to Lebanon to see how the country was succeeding - or not succeeding - in rebuilding its buildings, rebuilding its minds, treating its wounded, doing change the political system, and prepare for a more acceptable future, "said Laurence Bloch, director of the radio.
© 2020 AFP