It was he who made famous the man who runs France today. Jean-Pierre Elkabbach was in the spotlight at a tribute paid Monday to France Télévisions, of which he was the boss. Emmanuel Macron chaired the ceremony in memory of the journalist, a “formidable interviewer”, in the words of the President of the Republic. He was “a journalist who wanted to carry the pen, the nagra [enregistreur portable utilisé en radio]the camera in the wounds of the time”, he underlined, while the main building of the France Télévisions headquarters was renamed “Maison Jean-Pierre Elkabbach”.
“He wanted to be part of it, of his time (…) of the history that is written and told, transmitted and remains,” declared the president, in front of an audience of political and media personalities, notably Delphine Ernotte, CEO of France Télévisions, or even the journalist Alain Duhamel.
The “illiterate women” of Gad
“Jean-Pierre Elkabbach ultimately succeeds in being one of them, in being of his time and ours,” he continued. Emmanuel Macron also praised a man who wanted to “be a reference when he was criticized for his reverences”.
After his speech, Emmanuel Macron also confided, as an aside, an anecdote: “What made me famous and which could have killed me was my first interview with him, where I talked about the daughters of Gad who are illiterate “. On September 17, 2014, Emmanuel Macron made a misstep in his first intervention as minister in the media, on Europe 1, by speaking of “illiterate” employees in the Breton Gad slaughterhouse. He then expressed his “regrets” and went there shortly after to apologize.