“Jean-Pierre Pernaut and I only had one collision”

• In the book

  Behind the screen, 40 years at the heart of the media

  , published Wednesday by Éditions du Rocher, Jacques Legros recounts his journalistic experiences and gives his point of view on the profession of journalist.

• "Journalist is the best job in the world because there is no hierarchy," confides Jacques Legros to

  20 Minutes

  .

  Meetings are such an enrichment that it's extraordinary to have this chance to be able to do them, to talk about them afterwards, to captivate people with what we felt.

  »

• “When, during the first confinement, Jean-Pierre found himself with me, in the same newspaper, which I directed when he had a supporting role when he was in great shape, it was unbearable for him and I understand, he explains.

  One day I had a mood swing.

  In twenty-four years, this was the only clash between us.

  »

From his upset time at the editorial staff of

to that

of TF1 's

In

, which appears Wednesday at the editions of the Rock, the 71-year-old journalist confides many anecdotes about his career which will delight readers wishing to know more behind the scenes of the profession. .

"I'm talking about me, but above all about my view of a society, a profession and their evolution over time", explains to

, the one who started "with a Remington, carbon paper, without a mobile phone or the Internet, or computer" but does not necessarily sing the refrain of "it was better before".

Maintenance.

At the end of your book, you say you suffer from the impostor symptom.

However, you have nothing more to prove.

Is there anything that allows you to reassure yourself about your legitimacy?

I was born [in Lapugnoy, in Pas-de-Calais] in an environment where going to Lille was part of the super social promotion reserved for a few, and where going to Paris, you should not even think about it.

My grandmother dreamed of me being a teacher.

Journalist ?

" It's not for you.

Who do you think You Are ?

“It's all the social weight of my environment at the time that I always had this feeling of having stolen what I have from people better born than me.

I'm not Cosette, but journalism was so far removed from my life, from my surroundings, from what I was told at school.

That's what forges a kind of chronic illegitimacy in you.

It marks you for life, with a hot iron.

You didn't have a piston, you didn't go to journalism school, but your weapon to enter the world of journalism is your nerve.

When we read you, you have not lacked audacity…

(He laughs) Yes, I prefer the word audacity because today we tend to believe that nerve is talent.

As I wrote, it's not talent, but it helps sometimes.

It's linked to my temperament: when I want something, I never let go.

You insist that you never forget where you come from.

Your biggest fear would be to take the big head?

I don't think that's likely to happen.

I distrust certainties.

When you start to have them - you need them in life, but I call them values ​​- it's because you lack a bit of intelligence.

You have been, or still are, a reporter, presenter, producer… You worked for Radio France Vaucluse, France Inter, France Info, RTL, LCI, then the TF1 group.

Which cap missing from your collection would you dream of wearing?

At my age, there aren't many caps left to wear.

I have reached the moment when we want to transmit, to think about what the media should be tomorrow, to have a direction and a vision of what information and our profession are.

Journalism is the best job in the world because it has no hierarchy.

I tell in the book my morning with the parents of a young man who died in the mine [in a firedamp explosion at the Simon headquarters, in Forbach, in Moselle, in 1985] then the fact of finding myself at the Elysée for a statement by the President of the Republic [François Mitterrand] a few hours later.

There is not a single job in the world where you can make such a big difference.

The meetings are such an enrichment that it is extraordinary to have this chance to be able to do them, to talk about them afterwards,

How did you experience the fact of not having been established at the presentation of the 13 Hours of TF1 after the departure of Jean-Pierre Pernaut?

I experienced it so well that, from the first day, twenty-four years ago, I said to him: “Listen Jean-Pierre, we are the same age – we are only ten months apart.

I have no ambition to steal your chair.

Given your success, your notoriety and the quality of your newspaper, I'm not here for that but for the pleasure of making this newspaper that I love and bringing my contribution, my touch.

“We got on well, contrary to what we have read.

In one chapter you say you were annoyed when, during the first confinement two years ago, Jean-Pierre Pernaut wanted to make "his" diary, thanks to the technical means made available to him at home, in your diary...

Jean-Pierre had a temperament - and that's what made him successful.

He was not a man to share the newspaper in a supporting role.

However, the confinement led us to do this.

It was based on a good feeling on the part of TF1's news management.

It was not a question of dismissing him but of leaving him a window in the newspaper.

Let me remind you that I took all the risks so that he could be safe.

I was around the same age and I too could catch the Covid in this writing where it was falling like flies.

Inevitably, when Jean-Pierre found himself with me, in the same newspaper, which I directed when he had a supporting role when he was in great shape, it was unbearable for him and I understand that.

One day I had a mood swing.

I told it in the book thinking it was more fun than anything else, but don't make a big deal out of it.

I said, “Shit, that's enough!

“We were exhausted, we made newspapers for an hour talking only about covid, we crossed a desert Paris, we had the impression of living a bacteriological war.

It was crazy stuff.

In twenty-four years, this was the only clash between us.

Asked about this passage at the microphone of Virgin Radio, Nathalie Marquay-Pernaut, the wife of Jean-Pierre, reacted with virulence.

Did you contact her to explain?

No, I haven't contacted her and I won't contact her.

I let her say what she wants, she has the right.

The only thing that bothers me is when you haven't read a book and you're interviewed by someone who hasn't read it either.

You talk a lot about professional ethics in the book.

Do you think she tends to get lost among journalists?

Oh yeah !

I have always dreamed of information professionals having an influence on social networks.

However, I note that it is quite the opposite: it is the networks that contaminate our profession.

People who say nonsense about anyone while being themselves nonsense, it's tragic.

I'm afraid that this profession will turn into anything big to make sensationalism, shortcuts... Soundbites, in politics, have always existed, but they were generally followed by analyzes that took on a little more height and back.

Recently, Roselyne Febvre, head of the political department of France 24, said on the air, when she thought her microphone was off, "I can't blame them", about figures from La France insoumise.

Is it professional misconduct?

An unfortunate bug?

No, it's not professional misconduct.

She thought she was

[off the air], she has the right to have her ideas

.

These errors, we have all been entitled to them at one time or another.

She could also have said "I have to pee".

As long as it doesn't show before or after in the words or in her work, what she thinks, we don't care.

You participated in the creation of LCI.

Today, non-stop news channels are part of the television landscape and regularly dictate the pace of the media.

What do you think ?

These channels responded to a need of society, to the change of lifestyle of people who were no longer necessarily present at the time of high masses of info.

Before LCI, there was France Info, which was really a revolution because there was no equivalent anywhere.

I quickly realized that repetitiveness, whether on radio or TV, had a slightly dangerous side.

As I have often said, these media are not made to be listened to in length but to make an appointment for information.

I tell it in the book, repetitiveness requires even more hindsight than a

.

Is this one of the reasons why one in two French people say they feel “information fatigue”?

By dint of eating, there is a moment when you are no longer hungry.

I'm a big news consumer, but sometimes I lose my power and switch to Chérie FM.

I understand people.

This is part of the risks, too much info kills the info.

We have to be careful.

It must remain something thought out, thought out, analyzed… It must not be a news outlet.

Laurence Ferrari, who was one of your colleagues at TF1, has been appointed editor-in-chief of "Paris Match".

What does that remind you of?

It's Laurence.

She always had a lot of ambition.

It's not a reproach, you have to, I had it too but there, I don't really have it anymore (laughs).

She is younger.

This explains that.

She still has a path to build.

I can only congratulate her.

Some see in them a pawn of Vincent Bolloré, new shareholder of the Lagardère group, which publishes “Paris Match”…

Wow, I don't really care.

Everyone makes their choices.

I don't know Vincent Bolloré but I worked for the Bouygues group for a long time and we never received the slightest injunction or the slightest desire to influence our editorial choices.

I speak from what I know.

What I don't know, I don't talk about.

You don't mention Patrick Poivre d'Arvor in the book either...

Who am I to talk about it?

I have already been questioned many times on this, I said what I had to say.

I respect the justice of my country, it will do its job, it is not up to me to do it in its place.

What advice would you give to a young man or woman considering becoming a journalist?

Think about each of the words you are going to use.

You have a beautiful language and you live in a beautiful country.

There is no equivalent in the world.

This language, respect it and, this country, look it straight in the eye and with humility because it is beautiful and you owe it more than it owes you.

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», the sacred box of Saturday evening

• Television

• Media

• TF1

• Books

• Journalist

• Interview

• Jean-Pierre Pernaut

• Patrick Poivre d'Arvor

• Laurence Ferrari