Etienne Mougeotte, former leader of TF1, died at 81
Etienne Mougeotte, here in September 2015. He was then president of Radio Classique.
AFP - PATRICK KOVARIK
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
A man of the press, radio and television, Etienne Mougeotte died this Thursday at the age of 81.
He had been vice-president of the TF1 group for nearly 20 years, and in particular at the head of the editorial staff of Europe 1 and Le Figaro.
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Qualified as "
smart
", "
trickster
" or "
madré
", Etienne Mougeotte was also described as sensitive and cultivated by those who had known him.
Vice-president of TF1 for nearly 20 years, he explained "
dissociating (his) personal tastes from the requirements of the medium for which (he) works
".
“
I love opera, but I will never put it on TF1 at 8:30 pm
”.
Accused of sometimes giving in to ease in his race for hearing, he invariably underlined “the divorce between the elites and the people: there is always a world between the vast majority of people who watch television and those who write. on her ".
The journalists of Le Figaro, of which he had directed the editorial staff from 2007 to 2012, recognized his professionalism, but his too visible commitment in favor of Nicolas Sarkozy had made waves within the newspaper.
During the last campaign, with anti-Holland headlines, the front page of Le Figaro had become a "
caricature
", said a journalist.
To the point that François Hollande refused to grant interviews to the newspaper, causing regret and bitterness in his Society of Journalists.
"
We are not here to piss off Sarkozy, those who are not happy can go and work elsewhere,
" Mougeotte retorted bluntly, in his stony voice, a sequel to throat cancer.
France Inter, Europe 1, TF1
Discreet about his private life, this slender, affable, elegant and courteous character was born in a modest environment in March 1940 in La Rochefoucauld in Charente. After studying at Sciences Po Paris from where he kept loyal friendships, the young journalist began his career in 1965 in
Paris Normandy
before joining France Inter as reporter, then correspondent in Beirut. He moved to Europe 1 in 1968 before going on television, then the First channel of the ORTF, then briefly to RTL, and returned to Europe 1 in 1973, where he was editor-in-chief and then news director.
When François Mitterrand was elected in 1981, Jean-Luc Lagardère entrusted him with the management of the
Journal du dimanche
.
Three years later, still at Lagardère, he was to direct Télé 7 Jours.
He then becomes familiar with the program schedules and the tastes of the general public, an education that he will then use at TF1.
In 1987, he supported Jean-Luc Lagardère, an unsuccessful candidate for the privatization of TF1.
Francis Bouygues will win and will hire Mougeotte as antenna director.
The tandem formed with Patrick Le Lay, CEO of the channel, transforms TF1 into a real audience machine.
The channel quickly established itself as the undisputed leader of television in France - a position it still occupies - and is an exception in Europe.
Left TF1 shortly after the arrival at its head of Nonce Paolini, successor of Patrick Le Lay, Etienne Mougeotte had directed Radio Classique from 2012 until March 2018, which developed its audience under its aegis by diversifying its programming.
Since 2015, he has also been president of the Valmonde press group, owner of the weekly Valeurs internationales, which he had bought in association with the Franco-Lebanese businessman Iskandar Safa and another former leader of the TF1 group, Charles Villeneuve.
At the beginning of February, he had published his memoirs in the book
Pouvoir
(Calmann Lévy), co-written with Jean-Michel Salvator, editorial director of Le Parisien.
(
With
AFP)
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