On Saturday, almost all the cameras around the world will be turned towards England. Because nearly eight months after the death of Elizabeth II, the British monarchy will crown its new king, Charles III, during a ceremony which will take place from 11 a.m. (12 p.m. in France) at Westminster Abbey. Among these cameras, French TV obviously intend to carve out a place of choice to follow this hyper-calibrated coronation and its side effects. The great moments of the royal family always fascinate viewers and allow the channels to achieve significant audiences. Last fall, nearly four billion people across the planet bid farewell to the Queen according to estimates by the DailyMailmore than 7.5 million on average in France, reported The echoes.
For Charles III and Camilla, TF1, France 2 or even BFMTV, once again upset their weekend programs to devote their famous “special editions” to the royal couple. Bye bye the classic Saturday lunchtime news, make way for live, duplexes and crown specialists from breakfast until tea time. But how are the channels preparing to best capture this historical sequence? And how do you stand out from the competition? Two watchwords: anticipate and stand out.
“The opposite of improvisation”
This coronation, the newsrooms have been preparing for it for a long time. “We are in the extension of what happened around the disappearance of Charles’s mother, explains to 20 minutes Philippe Corbé, editorial director of BFMTV. The day she dies, we are already able to do the morning and hours on the air on the spot from London.
But we had been preparing it for several years, we had identified a place, a set, everyone knew exactly what they had to do. There was a plan, it was the opposite of improvisation. And it’s even less so for such an event, which is predictable. “We know since the Queen’s funeral that there will be a coronation. It’s less difficult to do so by being able to anticipate months in advance,” he says. Same story at TF1.
“At first, we didn’t know when this coronation was going to take place, a lot of questions still arose, but we all the same put ourselves in battle order as soon as the queen died, in commando mode”, specifies Antoine Guélaud, director of special operations. For the occasion, it was notably decided to pool the three newsrooms (TF1, LCI and TF1info) and to co-broadcast simultaneously on the two channels.
To be ready for the big day, you also have to think about the different reporting locations, the different issues, the guests present to comment on the images. This also requires anticipation from a technical point of view, accrediting journalists and reserving locations for them near strategic points (such as on avenue The Mall where the royal processions parade), or even satellite slots. On the side of France 2, the key to success also involves anticipation.
“We are lucky to be able to rely on in-house production people and set up this device with them, like blocking duplex positions everywhere, especially in Buckingham and Westminster, specifies Caroline Thébaud, editor-in-chief of special operations from France 2. If you want to have duplex positions at the right times and in the right places, you have to reserve these slots with the BBC that all the TVs are fighting for. »
“It’s a huge challenge”
On D-Day, it is thus necessary to be able to feed hours and hours of live. The chains will be on deck from 6 a.m. Saturday, then launch all their devices around 9 a.m., which will last until the end of the ceremony in mid-afternoon. That’s six to seven hours of airtime… “It’s a huge challenge in terms of form and substance,” admits Antoine Guélaud for TF1. For him, it is necessary “to make viewers want” but also “to decipher and decode all the codes of the ceremony. It’s not just a show, it’s an information event and we have to learn as much as possible”.
On site, TF1 is betting on an “all in motion” system with fifteen special correspondents who will crisscross the streets of London in a Rolls, a taxi or even a sidecar. “We will be alongside the English who will experience this coronation as a celebration. We also want to make this program a permanent happening around what interests the French in the British capital on the occasion of this coronation, ”adds the director of special operations of the group. Nearly 80 people were mobilized to follow this historic event.
Another challenge is to stand out from the competition, knowing that all the channels around the world will share the same images. Because only the BBC films the coronation ceremony, which then provides an “international signal”.
“What matters to us is to bring something extra,” explains Philippe Corbé for BFMTV. There are things that we prepared a little in advance, themes, angles, but we are not going to do glossy paper subjects that would be cold and a little removed from the force of the current event. We are going to treat this event as we treat them all: with the power of the live image, what we know how to do on a daily basis. On Saturday, several dozen people from the news channel will be deployed to cover this royal ceremony as well as possible, among them reporters, image reporters or even technicians. Jean-Baptiste Boursier, the presenter of this special edition, will be on set relocated to London, on the same terrace as for the funeral of Elizabeth II.
On France 2, a dozen journalists and special envoys will be deployed in the streets of London – like Louise Eckland aboard an electric taxi – but also in Melbourne, Australia, a member of the Commonwealth. “We try to be as close as possible to the event. It also means being live, the driver can move, the unfolding can lead to being shifted. We will adapt to what is happening and be as responsive as possible,” assures Caroline Thébaud.
“The best possible set of guests”
The chain is also betting on a set of choice. Julian Bugier, the master of ceremonies, will host this special day from Paris. “The objective is to have the best possible line-up of guests and it was too complicated to set it up in London. We think that we would have lost stakeholders and expertise, ”said the editor-in-chief of special operations. “What interests us is to understand this coronation, what it means for the king, for great Britain, what are the challenges that await them. Understand how the British are experiencing this event and try to give as much information as possible about what we are going through,” she explains.
“We are lucky to have guests and experts who are very loyal to the channel and we think that is also what viewers like. This loyalty is maintained because there is competition on the market to have the best, so it’s something you have to work on all year round,” she adds. The faithful of the channel will obviously find Stéphane Bern but also Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre, editorial director of Point of viewor even Nathalie Saint-Cricq, political columnist for France Télévisions and Etienne Leenhardt, editor-in-chief of the Foreign Service.
On the side of the first channel, which also opts for a more practical Parisian set to organize, a dozen guests will comment on the images of the coronation. Experts whom Antoine Guélaud calls the “royal family of TF1”. “These are people we have been working with for a long time, we maintain relationships, we meet them regularly, including outside the stages,” he explains. Viewers of the channel will find Samantha de Bendern, associate researcher at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Philip Kyle, biographer of Charles III, but also the royal biographers Isabelle Rivère and Marc Roche. A real family reunion, therefore, for the royal crown and for French journalists.