Anger but also a certain fatalism. This Friday morning, the fifty journalists recruited by the Mediapro group had confirmation of what they had been anticipating for several weeks with the announcement of the shutdown of their Téléfoot channel. If they have always been paid on time despite their employer’s financial difficulties, they no longer had any illusions. “The day Jaume Roures came to talk to us, I understood that it was dead,” a journalist from the channel told us. He’s a liar, a crook who bamboozled us all. This guy is a Christophe Rocancourt. “
An analogy used by another journalist: “Roures, he reminds me of Jack Kachkar, the mythologist who wanted to take over OM. I left a good situation, I worked like crazy and I realize it was for a crook. The worst part is that now I am going to be unemployed and that I will have a reputation as a traitor for my former employers. It’s a big shock, I am disgusted. “
For some young journalists who had already experienced a social plan at RMC Sport, the blow is hard to take. “There is a lot of concern for the future now, we are afraid of being a little burned out in the profession”, worries a journalist. “I bet on my young age to bounce back elsewhere, but when? We don’t know anything about it and we all have legitimate fears, ”says one of these colleagues.
“We had obtained guarantees”
If he is not “surprised by the outcome”, this journalist who was well established in his old channel, refutes the idea “to have been light” when signing for Mediapro. “Do you think those who left beIN Sports or Canal would have left for a wobbly project? he asks. If we had had the slightest doubt, we would not have gone. We had obtained guarantees. Jean-Michel Roussier (Editor’s note: editorial manager of the channel), who is not just anyone in the industry, had had it. He too has fallen from the clouds for a few weeks. I know he must feel guilty for recruiting us. “
“We all knew that rumors had circulated since May 2018 about the group’s solvency, but the 4-year commitment had reassured us,” explains another employee. We were happy and proud to participate in the launch of a new adventure within a young and dynamic team with quality consultants who were still players a short time ago. “
“We were privileged and now we feel sad”
For many, beyond fears for the future, the frustration of having “finally worked for nothing” was also present this Friday. “In barely a few weeks, we managed to create new formats, regrets a journalist. We did a lot of inside. Marina Lorenzo’s program, which went to clubs every day, giving voice to a multitude of players and coaches, was unheard of. New faces of consultants like Mathieu Bodmer, Benoît Cheyrou, Christophe Jallet or Loïc Perrin have also emerged. All this is a big disappointment, a real waste… ”
Mediapro will continue to broadcast the matches as long as the LFP has not reached an agreement with another broadcaster, so certainly until the truce. Despite “a feeling of emptiness”, this journalist will therefore comment “more out of professionalism and habit than out of desire” the match where he was scheduled this weekend. For the moment, the journalists have not planned any specific actions.
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“Maybe I’ll make a little hint on the air, but that’s not certain,” concludes one commentator. We were happy, we were privileged and now we feel sad. But we have our professional conscience, we must be pro until the end and not make mistakes. There are worse people than us, especially at the moment. But we have already put ourselves on the market… ”
