Columnist on TF1 since 2018 and former adviser to François Hollande, journalist Nathalie Iannetta will become Radio France’s first sports director from September 1, the public group announced on Thursday.
The appointment of this former Canal +, football specialist, was decided by the president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, and the director of information and sports of the round house, Vincent Giret.
“With a view to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and while sport plays an essential societal role in bringing together all audiences, Nathalie Iannetta will be tasked with developing, developing and promoting an ambitious and innovative offer on all media, ”the group said in a press release.
Her appointment aims to strengthen coverage of women’s sport
“At the head of the sports department, made up of 15 journalists (…), she will carry out actions aimed at decompartmentalizing the worlds of sport, valid and disabled, to strengthen the coverage of women’s sport, in line with the values” of the service public.
The journalist will also pilot “the establishment of extensive and innovative agreements with players in the world of sport to strengthen the influence of Radio France in the coverage of sports news and major events”.
She succeeds Vincent Rodriguez, who replaced Jacques Vendroux at the start of 2019 and is appointed “general secretary of the editorial staff of France Bleu by its director Jean-Emmanuel Casalta”.
On her Twitter account, the journalist soberly thanked her illustrious TF1 collaborators. “Charles, Pierre, Thierry, Alain, Michel, Jacques. What I owe you… thank you thank you thank you, ”she wrote. In reference to Charles Bietry, Pierre Lescure, Michel Denisot, Jacques Vendroux, Alain de Greef and Thierry Gilardi.
The National Union of Journalists denounces “the brutal announcement of the replacement” of Vincent Rodriguez
The arrival of Nathalie Iannetta comes in a context upset by the broadcast in March on Canal + of the documentary “I am not a bitch, I am a journalist”. This film on sexism in sports writing had caused a shock wave, in particular pushing Radio France to launch an internal investigation.
Contacted by AFP, the group indicated that the investigation was “still in progress” and that its conclusions would be returned “at the start of the school year” to “draw lessons”. But Vincent Rodriguez has already been “exonerated”, insists the round house.
Despite these assurances, the National Union of Journalists denounced in a press release the brutal announcement “of the replacement of Vincent Rodriguez, which” feeds the horrible poison of doubt and suspicion “and which plunges the Sports department” in shock and in the most total incomprehension ”.
The investigation established that it was under the direction of Vincent Rodriguez that the Sports department had taken a “radical turn” and put an end to “the sexist working atmosphere where women were second-rate journalists”, underlined the SNJ.
A reference in sports journalism, Nathalie Iannetta cut her teeth at Canal +, where she joined in 1995 and notably hosted “L’Equipe du dimanche”, the “Canal Champions Club” and “Samedi Sport”.
Between 2014 and 2016, the journalist was also “sports, youth and engagement advisor” to President François Hollande, before becoming an official at UEFA as special advisor to the secretary general and the president of the European association.
