Journalist by day, actor by night.
Until February 18,
Christophe Barbier
performs on the stage of the Passy theater in Paris in
Gabrielle Chanel in winter
, a play in which he plays Paul Morand who will write the stylist's memoirs (never published).
“
We only have one life and as I no longer have responsibilities, I decided to satisfy my passion for theater
,” confided this Thursday the BFMTV editorialist and former editorial director of
L’Express
to “Buzz TV.”
It was a high school French teacher in her native Haute-Savoie who passed on this passion to her.
“
I have been doing amateur theater since I was 17 in my spare time, as a hobby.
When I met professionals, it became my second life
,” he tells us again.
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During this interview, the journalist also spoke about this fierce war between news channels.
“
There are channels which choose expertise, others the field, others opinion.
All that is pluralism,
believes Christophe Barbier.
I like it.
We are lucky to be in this world where we have BFM, LCI, CNews,
Valeurs Acteurs
and
L'Humanité
.
We disagree and it stagnates: it's called democracy.
Do we want a country where everyone has the same line?
No
,” he continues before qualifying.
“
So obviously for several years, this pluralism has been on 220 volts.
Positions have become polarized, both press and audiovisual titles.
We are no longer in the catch-all, lukewarm media.
You have to know who you are talking to, says Pascal Praud and yes, he knows it.
Also read “It’s difficult to fight against Pascal Praud”: the implacable observation of Julie Hammett, journalist on BFMTV
Christophe Barbier describes himself as a “
moderate customer
” of Pascal Praud.
“
Because I find it excessive.
I disagree 98% with what he says,
explains the 57-year-old.
On Europe, these are not my opinions, nor on identity.
This pessimism of “everything is ruined, France is going downhill” is not my nature.
On the contrary, I think that we have positive forces which are certainly in difficulty but which are at least as powerful as the negative forces.
I'm a little annoyed by his side: “political correctness is against us, we don't have the right to tell the truth”.
This is not true.
Pascal Praud has the right to say and besides, many people look at him.
These are perhaps even positions which become the majority, we find electoral variations of them.
It must come out of its victimhood and resistance, it must take responsibility as a current which is perhaps in the majority
.
For the Radio J political interviewer, “
the French are much wiser than we think.
If they obeyed the media, they would have elected Balladur in 95, Jospin in 2002... Let us be proud and reassured to have this people, as Rocard said, who have a powerful collective wisdom
.
“We must not dramatize”
Christophe Barbier on the many departures from BFMTV
Asked about the atmosphere at BFMTV after the numerous departures of on-air figures like Pascale de La Tour du Pin, Aurélie Casse and Bruce Toussaint, Christophe Barbier puts things into perspective.
“
Editors are like theater troupes, they are very emotional people.
Surprise departures create human wounds.
The farewell always means tears, obviously.
We wonder why they are leaving.
But we must not dramatize.
I experienced this at
L'Express
.
It's cyclical: there are times when everything succeeds and then there are times when competition awakens, there are areas of turbulence.
When there are rumors about the sale of a media outlet, then... The number of times
L'Express
has been sold... You have to be very zen about that
.”
And to conclude on the subject: “
We do a job where routine is extremely rare.
Difficult times are also proof that we do not live by routine
.”