For now, he has one foot in one group and the second in another. Presenter of the debate show "L'heure des pros" on CNews since 2016, he also officiates on RTL (M6 group).

For months, the press has been announcing it leaving for Europe 1, radio of the Lagardère group, which has just been swallowed by Vivendi, Vincent Bolloré's group.

Not confirmed at this stage, the arrival of Praud would be a way to push the rapprochement between Europe 1 and CNews, who already share several headliners, such as Laurence Ferrari and Sonia Mabrouk.

Recently, L'Obs and Télérama claimed that he had received a counter-offer from M6 to bring him to this TV channel while remaining on RTL.

Asked by AFP, the person did not wish to comment on his future.

But at RTL, some seem to have come to terms with the idea of leaving. "RTL, it gave him a varnish, while at CNews and Europe 1, he will be locked in his image," slips one in the corridors of the radio of the group M6.

"Bateleur"

In "L'heure des pros", Pascal Praud, 58, leads debates on current topics, surrounded by columnists. Many are marked very far to the right (former magistrates Georges Fenech and Philippe Bilger, the journalist Charlotte d'Ornellas), others to the left (the journalist Laurent Joffrin).

White hair and finely trimmed beard, elegant suits and glasses on the nose, the master of ceremonies makes the show, sometimes even if it means overplaying the outburst.

"He is a real bateleur, ultra-cultured, who can talk about any subject," describes to AFP a journalist who knew him well before he presented "The hour of the pros".

Like the whole of CNews (channel of the Canal+ group, controlled by Vivendi), the show is accused on the left of promoting the conservative ideas attributed to Vincent Bolloré.

In April, CGT general secretary Sophie Binet refused to respond to CNews during a protest against the pension reform.

In mid-May, the national secretary of Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV), Marine Tondelier, described the channel as a "reactionary and far-right media". Pascal Praud had denounced a "caricature".

Public success

"That people think I'm far right, it's crazy!" said the host in 2021 to the newspaper Le Parisien / Aujourd'hui en France.

He said he was "hyperconservative on culture, history, authority and security", "very progressive on social issues" (marriage for all, PMA, surrogacy) and "liberal" on the economic level.

In February, the president of Arcom (the media regulator), Roch-Olivier Maistre, indicated that CNews "strictly respects political pluralism" globally, while judging that it "is close to an opinion channel" in the manner of the American conservative TV Fox News.

According to him, the fact that "editorialists" defend "opinions" in "set programs" falls within the "editorial freedom" of the channel.

Anyway, "L'heure des pros" (broadcast twice a day) seduces the public: it gathers around 400,000 viewers in the morning and 600,000 in the evening.

Its faithful praise the "freedom of tone" of the show, its popular side and the fact that it addresses all subjects, even the most controversial.

Before becoming the strong man of CNews, Praud was a sports journalist for a long time, notably in "Téléfoot" on TF1.

From 2008 to 2010, he was general manager of FC Nantes, a club in his hometown, of which he is a supporter.

"His relations with the Nantes sports press were tense," recalls a local journalist. "He read everything and had the easy phone call to complain about an article, which is paradoxical for a journalist."

© 2023 AFP