For more than 40 years, Étienne Mougeotte received at his home, at dawn, all of the national and international press. His ritual then consisted of devouring the newspapers, while listening attentively to the various morning radios. And once in his office, a TV screen was permanently connected to 24-hour news channels. His capacity to store information, his exceptional memory and his perfect knowledge of the subjects, made him the most curious, the most specialized and the most demanding journalist in the world of the press, radio and television. Yesterday ... Étienne Mougeotte did not open any newspapers. He died at the age of 81.
“He was the most respected man in the media. A godfather to whom everyone asked for advice ”
underlines Xavier Couture, ex-antenna director of TF1 and main collaborator of Étienne Mougeotte.
Étienne Mougeotte surveyed and then directed the largest media in France: Europe 1, JDD, TF1 then
Le Figaro,
where he was editorial director from 2007 to 2012.
Étienne Mougeotte was the editorial director of Le Figaro from 2007 to 2012. François Bouchon / Le Figaro
"For all of us, it is a great sorrow,
entrusts Alexis Brézet his successor, to the editorial management of the Figaro group"
. Journalists at Le Figaro lose more than a former director: a friend and, for many, a role model. Always on the go, Étienne was the absolute journalist; the news was his oxygen, he knew everyone, he knew everything before everyone else. Television, written press: he passed with fascinating ease from one form to another, attentive to the smallest detail, perfectly mastering the major challenges of the world, and able to anticipate changes in the profession. Étienne combined his incredible natural authority with great human delicacy and absolute fidelity in friendship. He left his mark on the Figaro. "
After having made his weapons in Paris Normandy, France Inter, the ORTF, and RTL, he took the direction of the information of Europe 1 in 1974. Étienne Mougeotte makes the radio of Jean-Luc Lagardère, the station most most powerful in France.
A position that will get him into trouble in 1981 when François Mitterrand came to power.
The new power gets him to be sidelined, but Jean-Luc Lagardère retains him in the group and gives him the direction of the Journal du Dimanche then that of Télé 7 jours, of which he increases sales to more than 3 , 2 million copies.
He created with Georges Cravenne the 7 d'Or, thus sealing a bridge between the worlds of television and the press.
The TF1 adventure
In 1987, he put all his energy to support Jean-Luc Lagardère on the issue of the privatization of the TF1 channel. But it is Francis Bouygues who wins the chain with his right arm Patrick Le Lay. Relegated to a small office without a telephone in the Lagardère group, Étienne Mougeotte does not have time to be bored. Jacques Duquesne suggests that Francis Bouygues hire Étienne Mougeotte to run the channel. The founder of the Bouygues group then imposed it on Patrick Le Lay. For 20 years, the explosive Le Lay-Mougeotte team will make the new private channel the queen of the PAF. The two men with such different characters learn to appreciate each other and to work together. They often play a perfectly polished duo, that of “good” and “bad cop”. To Patrick Le Lay, the chairmanship and management,at Étienne Mougeotte the antennas and programs. Patrick Le Lay died on March 18, 2020, a few months before his sidekick.
As soon as he arrived at TF1, Étienne Mougeotte brought in his band of friends from Europe 1. Nicknamed “the Portuguese captains”, Gérard Carreyrou, Robert Namias, Jean-Claude Dassier and Charles Villeneuve conquered all the territories.
“At the time the state of mind at TF1 was victory while singing”
remembers Xavier Couture
“Étienne was above all a journalist. He knew everyone from the media and politics, he was an expert on football, cycling, politics, TV. He was an opera madman and a huge, avid reader. He was very impressive ”
says Francis Morel of him, his very close friend who worked with him at Hachette, TF1, at Le Figaro and at Radio Classique. At the time TF1 was at its peak with more than 30% of audience share - unprecedented in Europe - and more than 50% of the advertising market. On the news, LCI and the 8pm news reign supreme. “
Étienne Mougeotte had a relationship of admiration and protection vis-à-vis PPDA and Claire Chazal. He was very respectful of TV stars who expose themselves to the public and hide their weaknesses, ”
says Xavier Couture.
With the support of Martin Bouygues, Étienne Mougeotte and Christian Dutois created in 1994 LCI, the first non-stop news channel. It revolutionized the approach to information and landed its moment of glory by holding the air non-stop on September 11, 2001. But the unchallenged reign of the TF1 channel was threatened by the arrival of TNT in 2005. Patrick Le Lay thunders against this project which he describes as “Marxist”. Étienne Mougeotte knows that the multiplication of chains is inevitable. However, he fails to change the strategy of the TF1 group, which is preparing poorly for the upheaval of DTT.
Television changes era, TF1 is attacked and the duo Le Lay-Mougeotte must hand over. After leaving TF1, the channel unloads PPDA from the 8 pm newscast. Just before sitting down in the PPDA chair, Laurence Ferrari takes advice from Étienne Mougeotte, the PAF's keenest eye. On D-Day, in his office at the Figaro Étienne Mougeotte watches Laurence Ferrari's performance.
“She has to remember herself,” he blurted out. "It's essential to talk to housewives under 50"
.
“Étienne was the most faithful man I know. But, he was very demanding with his collaborators and knew how to be brittle in the event of infidelity ”
analyzes Francis Morel. "
It was a boa.
He was extremely attractive, but when you felt he was squeezing your neck, it was already too late, ”
adds Xavier Couture.
Great physical courage
All those who knew him underline the great courage and resilience of Étienne Mougeotte. In 1987, barely installed at the helm of TF1, he faced cancer without leaving his post for a moment.
"I went to chemo, I went home, I writhed in pain and on Monday I was in the office,"
he confided. Francis Bouygues was very impressed by this hard work. Resilient, Étienne Mougeotte never wasted time looking behind him.
“When he had to leave Europe 1, JDD, TF1 and Figaro, it was very hard. But he put all his energy into setting out again on new projects
, says Francis Morel. In 2012, the latter called his friend to direct Radio Classique which he straightened out by bringing in PPDA and Claire Chazal.
"My future ?
It's anything but retirement, ”
Étienne Mougeotte liked to repeat.
He also works with Iskandar Safa on the Nice-Matin takeover, but without success.
But he succeeded in buying the Valmonde group with
Valeurs Actuelles
.
Passionate about politics, Étienne Mougeotte was a member of UNEF before being a barrist and then close to Nicolas Sarkozy.
“Throughout his career, Étienne has always been concerned with modernity,”
assures Xavier Couture.
Passionate about new technologies, he never missed a new iPhone release.
At the head of the editorial staff of
Le Figaro,
he relaunched the lefigaro.fr site, making it the leading information site in France.
He pushed for the transformation of the drafting into bimedia and introduced the video in 2008. Endowed with a very great humor, he regularly released in the editorial committee his favorite little phrases including
"It is better to brush your teeth in a glass. on foot than feet in a toothbrush ”
.
