VIDEO. “It's unacceptable”: why BFM cut short the interview with Rima Hassan, MEP La France Insoumise ?

Rima Hassan sur BFM ce mardi 8 octobre. Capture X

This Tuesday, October 8, MP Rima Hassan was interviewed live and in duplex on BFM. She criticized the channel's editorial line, giving rise to a debate and then an interruption of the interview, before the channel expressed its views on the sequence.

Asked about the whistles addressed to Emmanuel Macron the day before, during Michel Barnier's speech in tribute to the victims of October 7, 2023 in Israel, Rima Hassan, LFI MEP, wanted to begin her duplex interview on BFM with a remark on the“editorial line” of the channel.

“I will answer your question. I simply want to denounce the fact that you were congratulated by Olivier Rafowicz, spokesman for the Israeli army, a genocidal army, for your editorial line", said Rima Hassan who wanted to "denounce" the sequence.

Interrupted by the journalists on set, Alain Marschall and Olivier Truchot. “You can't start by attacking us. We invite you, and you question the editorial line of BFMtv”, and to continue “you are questioning the work of the editorial staff, this is unacceptable”.

“Stop, we're going to stop”

As Rima Hassan tries to close the parenthesis, the tone rises and the presenters decide to cut the sequence short.”Listen, stop, we're going to stop. We congratulate you for that and we thank you", we hear them say.

Rima Hassan subsequently expressed herself on her X account, considering that she had been "censored in the legitimate criticism that I formulate. So I couldn't comment on the rest."

To which journalist Olivier Truchot responded, also on the social network X: “You're talking nonsense about our channel's editorial line. But the truth doesn't matter, the goal was to get your little buzz moment”.

Management and the SDJ react

After this sequence, the SDJ of BFM reacted, to defend the work of the editorial staff in a press release. The editorial union deplores “the questioning of the work of the editorial staff”, recalling that “the channel has many special envoys or correspondents in the region, in Lebanon, the West Bank, Israel or Iran, who make the voices of all parties, civil or military, heard”.

The management of BFM also made a “clarification”. "BFMTV would like to recall the rigorous, impartial and balanced work of its editorial staff, as demonstrated by the deployment of 7 teams in the field in Israel and Lebanon, and the broadcast on Friday and Sunday evening of an exceptional document produced by BFMTV thanks to Palestinian journalists in Gaza", we can read on the channel's website, in an article which suggests rewatching the sequence called into question by Rima Hassan in its entirety as well as the major report 7-octobre : la riposte à tout prix".