“Every interview is a school of frustration”

TV Magazine – Why Added “C’s Guest in the Air” at 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday on France 5, to a debate magazine favoring the words of experts?

Caroline Roux – Many personalities have affection for this magazine which has existed for 20 years. Many of them regularly told me that they regretted not being invited to “C in the air”. Mélanie Taravant stopping the meeting “C à dire?”, the idea came to me to reserve this time for the interview of a guest, from August 22 at 5:30 p.m. on France 5. We continue to receive experts and observers but we will now have an actor in the political, economic, social or cultural news.

At the risk of giving a new resonance chamber to the speeches turning a little in a loop on the news channels?

There is no question of a trash interview or an additional interview. We keep the DNA of “C dans l’air”, which deals with substantive subjects and major issues. If I want to receive the Minister of the Economy to explain why the increase in the key rate of the European Central Bank and the Fed is a real subject, I will do so. We keep the same requirement and the concern to go around the fundamental subjects. In the interview of “4 Truths” of “Telematin” on France 2, I was constrained by the news. I felt compelled to ask the question that had caused the buzz. With “C’s Guest in the Air” on France 5I feel liberated from it all.

Do you choose your guest based on the theme of the show?

We don’t set ourselves any shackles. When the news requires it, such as the day of the declaration of war on Ukraine, it goes without saying that we would have devoted the debate and the interview to the subject. Other themes, on the other hand, do not last for 1 hour 10 minutes but can be the subject of an enlightening interview.

For what reasons do you stop the much appreciated political interview of“4V” in “Télématin”, on France 2?

Do not stay too long in the same exercise. We end up doing it mechanically, without energy. I had planned that I would follow a quinquennium, which I did. Waking up at five in the morning is a sacrifice! But I think I did the job well. “Les 4V” is the most popular morning show with an average audience of nearly 30% (up 2 points over the season, editor’s note). We even finished with audience shares of 33 and 34%.

“C dans l’air” has an average of 1.3 million viewers and 11.7% of PDA, are you satisfied?

Yes, but after 6 years of practice, I still don’t feel like I’ve done it all. With the editor-in-chief and the team, we have modernized and feminized the show, we have raised the level of play. One of our reports was selected for the Bayeux prize (29th Bayeux Calvados Normandy festival which will be held from 3 to October 9, 2022, rewarding photo, radio, television or written press war reports, editor’s note). We are very happy.

How do you survive in such a demanding lighting exercise?

We survive by always asking ourselves the right questions. OK, the news channels are pushing us; there is a kind of pressure from the machine, from the “beast” itself, but we put up a form of resistance. To intelligently build a program with three reports, we eliminate everything that is of the order of buzz, controversy, artificiality. We begin the ascent by the north face of Everest! Even when addressing technical problems, routing and energy costs, viewers follow us as always when we are fair and provide answers to their legitimate questions.

Finally you think, “stop taking viewers for fools”!

This is the whole prism of my professional life. I believe in the collective intelligence of our country, that of viewers and people who vote. People don’t run away from complexity, they ignore fake questions.

Are you going to offer new prime time “C dans l’air”?

Yes, because these evenings which focus on international news have worked well, whether on Putin, Erdogan or China. In October we will propose an evening on the theme of “The Cyber ​​Threat”, a real subject I assure you.

You also inherit the political evening of France 2, left vacant by Léa Salamé and Laurent Guimier. Does it have a title? Will you present it alone?

We don’t have a calendar or a title yet, we’re waiting for the start of the school year to talk about it. I do not know more for the moment but the tension will not be the same because we will no longer be in an election year, although… political news always has a lot of imagination!

Aren’t you tired of a certain dogmatic political class which always rehashes the same elements of language?

The elements of language can gun down politics but I don’t know which is worse between the ready-made elements of language and the excess, the invective. It is inaudible in the public debate. It is necessary to be in the correctness of the vocabulary, in the precision. The image of politicians has been damaged, public speaking is important. When I happen to have a guest who talks about it, who does his tap dancing number, I say: “He has to learn to button himself up again!”.

The young political class takes social networks. The magazine “C dans l’air” is also very present…

Thank you for pointing it out, no one ever talks to me about it! We have a dedicated social media team. We reach young people whom we did not reach before. We are even the most podcasted program, all channels combined on France Télévisions. Children and adolescents do not know where the zappette is, they get information on social networks. But what France Télévisions is capable of producing in terms of information content, no platform offers it. You always have to keep in mind that if the young people aren’t there, it’s because you’re no good. They consume content on their mobile, it’s up to us to add a graphic palette and colors that speak to them. We have to adapt to the way they have learned to assimilate information.

What did you learn from the July 14 interview with the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron?

I loved this very constrained exercise with two editorial staff and a pair. Anne-Claire Coudray is an open girl, we were very complementary. I remember this collaboration.

We sometimes felt impatient, as if you were waiting for more clear-cut answers?

The July 14 interview is a moment of national gathering, it is solemn but not very political. We always have the timing in mind, but the president likes to develop, explain, educate, that’s his role too.

Did you feel a form of frustration?

Each interview is a school of frustration for both the interviewer and the interviewee. We regret the formulation of a question, of having been too long on a part, of not having raised enough… I redo the exercise twenty times, I gamberge then I let go of the matter. We are still in “work in progress”. It is extremely rare to be completely satisfied with an interview!

A quick word about your holidays before the big jump to the start of the school year?

I always start my holidays with a stay in the mountains. It’s physical, a bit rough, I like to trudge in my walking shoes. As I speak to you, I am in Greece, in the Cyclades for a moment of relaxation with the family.