Journalist Patrick Cohen, who currently hosts a Sunday program on France Culture, announced on Friday that he would leave Radio France this summer, the public group having decided not to entrust him with the presentation of the morning show of France Info.
“I have decided to put an end to all collaboration with Radio France”, announced to the World the host of “L’Esprit public”, before confirming his departure to AFP. “I simply want to leave a company whose management has disappointed me enormously,” said the host of “L’Esprit public”, claiming to be the victim of a “lifelong vendetta” from the director of the antennas and of group strategy, Laurence Bloch.
According to the journalist, she would not have forgiven him for his departure in 2017 for Europe 1. Contacted by theAFPthe management of Radio France did not wish to comment on this decision.
Question of “complementarity”
The Round House confirms, however, that “Patrick Cohen was one of the options considered” to succeed Marc Fauvelle, at the helm for nearly five years of the morning show of France Info and who will become director of information for France Inter at the start of the school year. “This week, there were editorial decision meetings where the options” for the morning show of France Info “were discussed”, we add at Radio France.
Qualified as a “great pro”, Patrick Cohen however has “a profile very close to France Inter”, the most listened to radio station in France, of which he hosted the morning for seven years before joining Europe 1 in 2017 and being replaced by the duo Nicolas Demorand/Lea Salame.
The public group has therefore “decided to favor a personality who will embody France Info in a more singular way” to “have a real complementarity of the morning offers of the public service for the French, an offer richer in its diversity”, he assures .
The successor to Marc Fauvelle has not yet been appointed, adds Radio France, at a time when the traditional audiovisual transfer window is in full swing.
Gone then came back
Recruited in 2017 to straighten the audiences of the morning of Europe 1, Patrick Cohen had been replaced after a season, failing to have succeeded. After hosting weekend shows, he found a daily meeting, “Europe Midi”, at the start of the 2020 school year.
He ended up leaving European 1 in 2021, at the dawn of a merger between the Lagardère group’s radio station and the conservative channel CNews desired by their common shareholder, Vivendi.
Also columnist for “C à vous” on France 5Patrick Cohen then returned to French Radio to regain control of “L’esprit public” on French Culture late Sunday morning.