It is 5 p.m., we are Wednesday, June 21, when we learn that an explosion took place in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, near Val-de-Grâce. Nobody knows then what is the cause of this explosion, nor if it causes victims.
But in these moments, for a media, the protocol always remains the same. Official sources are contacted: prosecutor, fire brigade, gendarmerie, police. We try to get the most accurate information possible. And above all, we go there.
In this new episode of “Minute Papillon! », we go behind the scenes of our reports to understand how these exceptional situations are managed: better known under the name of breaking news ? In our podcast studio, we asked all our questions to the person who covered the explosion for the newspaper, our journalist from the Paris service Romarik Le Dourneuf.
Find the press point
Romarik Le Dourneuf had just finished an interview for an article he was writing when he learned that an explosion was taking place. Free, he decides to go there. “It’s rush hour, I tell myself that it will be easier to go there by bike,” he says. Arrived there, he barely had time to learn the facts by making a few calls, and by reading the few information already released by other media.
“My first instinct was to approach as close as possible to the site of the explosion. When I arrive, it’s still a bit of chaos, so I take advantage of it. Romarik Le Dourneuf manages to reach the street just behind the site of the explosion, and begins to question passers-by before the security perimeter is established.
The second is to find the press point. “Find the communicators of the police headquarters, they are the ones who give official information. They centralize the new information that is gradually arriving from the fire brigade, the prefecture and the police, ”he explains in this podcast.
A constant back and forth between official sources and witnesses
From 5.30 p.m. to 1 a.m., Romarik sweeps the neighborhood and constantly goes back and forth between the press briefing and the onlookers present. It is necessary at the same time to recover the official information on the number of wounded, or on the causes of the explosion, while seizing the atmosphere which reigns on the spot.
The urgency above all remains to inform, without being mistaken. “We constantly cross our information so as not to broadcast something false,” he explains. Significant rigor in the face of the race for information that reigns when such tragedies occur.
In order to inform in real time, our journalist also chooses to make a live tweet. “It’s both to give information quickly to our readers without waiting for the publication of the full article, and to keep my editorial staff informed of the situation on site, because I don’t have time to get them too often on the phone. »
As for the information that is already circulating on social networks, it is caution that is in order. “Apart from the information relayed by official sources, there are still leads that must always be explored and verified. An “invisible” work according to Romarik Le Dourneuf, but which protects against fake news.