Television. These jokers who replace the star journalists of our news during the summer

“Good morning, sir, madam.” Jacques Legros thus invites himself to the viewers’ table of the 1pm news. A key figure on TF1 since July 1998, he is nonetheless a joker. In other words, a replacement. He took over for Jean-Pierre Pernaut for a long time before replacing Marie-Sophie Lacarrau. Twenty-six years of good and loyal service for the 73-year-old journalist in a few days. A rare stability. Since 2007 and the taking over of Laurent Delahousse on weekends on France 2, for example, twelve journalists have already filled in for him.

A popular step stool

Like them, dozens of others have slipped into the stars’ chair. Significant names in information have, through this means, obtained their tenure: Claude Sérillon, Jean-Claude Narcy, Bruno Masure, Anne-Sophie Lapix, Xavier de Moulins, Carole Gaessler, Anne-Claire Coudray… Jean-Pierre Pernaut too , after two years in the shadow of Yves Mourousi.

Behind the scenes, a well-established organization makes this waltz painless for the public. Replacements, certainly, but above all seasoned professionals. “There is a continuity of the newspaper ensured by different faces. The editorial line of 8 p.m. is not based on an individual. She is known to everyone,” notes Elsa Pallot, editor-in-chief of France 2’s 8 p.m. software, its teleprompters and its teams. “They just have to adapt to the course of the day, which is specific to each edition. » Furthermore, they may not know that a topic has recently been covered, and how. Elsa Pallot and her deputies compensate for this.

This substitute status is rarely a source of discomfort for those concerned. Karine Baste, Anne-Sophie Lapix’s official joker since October 2020 and on air from June 30, naturally defines herself on her X account as such – and not as a journalist or presenter. A role that she lives to the full: “This position represents an incredible opportunity. I savor it in the present without projecting myself,” she confides. Jacques Legros reports in his autobiography, Behind the screen (Ed. du Rocher), these words intended for Jean-Pierre Pernaut: “I don’t want to steal your chair, just borrow it from time to time, and return it to you as clean as I found it when I arrived.” The rest of the time, he lives in a village in Aquitaine, “with his feet firmly on the ground between the vineyard and the ocean.”

For some, this understudy role is only a step towards other cathodic adventures or tenure. An ambition that Julian Bugier has never hidden. At the head of the 1 p.m. news on France 2 since January 2021, he has, in the past, several times mentioned his impatience to give up this title, held for seven years, and to take on that of “number one on the 8 p.m. It doesn’t seem very far away anymore. Among the faces who will accompany your summer there may be a future news star. Place your bets !