This is the first time he has spoken since he was fired from the channel. Accused in particular of having collaborated in the autobiography of RN president Jordan Bardella, political journalist Jean-François Achilli was removed from Radio France at the end of April, a choice which has an “eminently political dimension”, he accused. in an interview published Saturday in Figaro Magazine.
“I committed the crime at Radio France of being approached by the president of the RN for a book project,” he says. But “in the end, we did not reach (…) an agreement, which is why there is no book, no contract, no money,” assures the journalist. Thus, “I did not commit professional misconduct and there is an eminently political dimension in my dismissal” at the end of April, also affirms Jean-François Achilli, who interviewed a political figure daily on franceinfo at the end of the afternoon and co-presented the current affairs talk show, “Les Informés en Soirée”.
In mid-March, he had already declared that he had “not violated any professional or ethical rules”. He explained that he had only “spoken” with Jordan Bardella, “at his request, about what his expression could be for a book of interviews”, then had “refused the project”. Speaking to Le Figaro, he reiterated this Saturday that he had “never campaigned in any way for any political figure”, saying he “stays in contact, while remaining at a distance” from politicians. “I claim it loud and clear: I am not porous, I’m just curious. Curiosity must remain the driving force of journalism,” he says.
“Undocumented accusations”
Jean-François Achilli, who contests his dismissal from the industrial tribunal, was “dismissed for serious misconduct, due to repeated breaches of ethical obligations relating to external collaborations”, according to an internal source at the public group, following revelations from an article in Le Monde. The journalist is also suspected of “media training”, communication training sessions, which were allegedly not declared to his superiors.
“Undocumented accusations of alleged services,” he sweeps away in this interview. They aim to “tarnish my reputation and make people forget the essential: I was fired for having exchanged with the president of the RN and for a draft book of interviews which did not see the light of day”, accuses he.
The boss of franceinfo, Jean-Philippe Baille, estimated in Le Parisien that “when a journalist corrects the proofs of a politician’s future book, it is a collaboration”. And “when this collaboration takes place during an electoral period, it amounts to participating in a strategy of conquest of power”. “He crossed the red line and I regret it,” he also insisted. “This decision is not political, but purely and simply ethical,” he also insisted, pointing out “a series of conflicts of interest”, a “unfortunately consequential” file.
“How can we look at drafts – and not tests that, moreover, I have never corrected – and providing feedback constitutes collaboration? », replied Jean-François Achilli in the columns of Le Figaro, saying he was “stunned by so much inelegance and violence” in the comments of the director of the 24-hour news station.
Jordan Bardella, the head of the RN list in the European elections, for his part assured Le Monde that “only (his) close entourage helped him write this book, for proofreading”. Its publication is planned after the European elections in June.
“One-way mobilization”
In the interview, the journalist was also questioned about the support enjoyed within Radio France by comedian Guillaume Meurice, who is on the left and also threatened with dismissal after controversial remarks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Jean-François Achilli criticizes a “one-way mobilization” which “did not surprise” him: “it signals the partisan character which now runs through the corridors of the Round House”, he asserts.
“The name of Jordan Bardella alone will have functioned as a foil throughout Radio France, without anyone trying to understand what had really happened,” he also asserts, estimating that “no one has moved” to support him. “Radio France has been the victim for years of a slow drift in the service of a single ideological orientation,” judges the journalist more broadly, for whom “October 7,” the date of the attacks by Palestinian Hamas against Israel, marked “a discomfort, even a fracture line.”
“Regaining a form of balance and neutrality will undoubtedly be one of the major challenges of the future reform” of merging public broadcasting, concludes Jean-François Achilli. Following a postponement, this contested text could be examined in June by the deputies.