“We really wanted to have Najat Vallaud-Belkacem as a columnist in” 22h Max “”, announces Maxime Switek

“It’s an incredible luxury to be able to register for the long term”, Maxime Switek slips us. The journalist made his comeback last week for a third season of 10 p.m., Monday to Thursday, between 10 p.m. and midnight, on BFMTV. He says he is “in great shape” and highlights his new team “very fresh and motivated”. Among the new faces of the evening, two former ministers are announced: Roselyne Bachelot and Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.

On what criteria did you recruit the new columnists?

We organized a big casting all over France… No, I’m kidding (laughs). The selection criteria were both simple and complicated. We wanted competent people, in a good mood, coming from different backgrounds. The goal, to constitute a good evening table is, as for a dinner at home, to have people who do not agree, but who, despite their disagreements, would be ready to go have a drink together afterwards the show. There has to be a debate, it has to be lively between them, but it has to stay correct, in a good mood, because I think that’s why the public comes to see us, knowing that it will be serious and relaxed.

Pauline Simonet and Antonin André are present every evening…

Pauline Simonet was our correspondent in the United States. She returned to France and knew international issues by heart. Antonin André is a former head of the political service of Europe 1, I had worked with him at the time. He has skills in political analysis. Depending on the day, editorial writers join them. We are delighted that Roselyne Bachelot is joining us this year. It will make its premiere this Wednesday evening. She will bring us her political, historical, cultural and health knowledge. She is a well of science and good humor. We held preparatory meetings, she is on fire, playful, she was unanimous in the team with her sunny personality.

According to our information, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who was Minister of National Education during the mandate of François Hollande, also joins the team. Was it hard to convince her?

We actually talked to her quite a bit. She too can bring us her knowledge, her skills, her experience and then talk about where she is today – she is president of France-Terre d’Asile. She works on topics that resonate with current events. We really wanted to have him with us. She wants to see, she wants to test to be sure. She should have premiered yesterday [mardi]but she had an impediment, her premiere will be next week logically.

Do you maintain a left-right balance?

The goal is to create a discrepancy on set, so that people don’t necessarily agree, that they come from different backgrounds so that viewers find themselves in what can be said on the air. We also make sure to have a joint board, I want it. Every evening with me I have two men and two women or three women and a man. This balance is important. We have as many women as men who watch us on BFMTV, so we have to look like them, that’s the least we can do.

You were talking about the “relaxed” climate that you want to establish in the show. But is it playable when divisive subjects are mentioned?

We can’t put relaxation everywhere, nor smile in all subjects, that’s obvious. Afterwards, the global atmosphere, in the country and in the world, is heavy at the moment so, when we can, we allow ourselves to treat the subjects seriously without necessarily taking ourselves seriously. I have a natural inclination to smile, I try to convey that, but I think viewers also know that we are rigorous and precise on the news.

Tuesday evening, the announcement of Mikhail Gorbachev’s death fell after 10 p.m. You had to abandon the summary provided to process this major information. Is that the kind of adrenaline you like?

We do this job to experience those moments on the air. Obviously, we don’t wish death or tragedy for anyone, but when these events happen, we know at BFMTV that we are equipped to live them. When I arrived at the channel, I was told: “You’ll see, it’s a kind of big Boeing which, when these events occur, takes off. You are carried, pushed by the entire editorial staff. ” It’s exactly that. Last night, we saw that we hadn’t made a mistake in our new cast. Pauline Simonet knows international issues by heart, she was perfectly equipped to improvise, because you have to juggle a bit when you discover information. Antonin André recontextualized with the Mitterrand-Gorbachev relations, and then Ulysse Gosset and the consultants came to lend us a hand. Me, my role, it is minimal in these moments, it is simply to distribute the floor. It is the people around me who bring the information and their knowledge.

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