Female news anchors ‘forced off TV' because partners are politicians
Léa Salamé, 45, a sharp interviewer who was the surprise appointment as host of the main evening news on France 2 television, has come under pressure after Raphaël Glucksmann, a rising centre-left politician, made clear that he aims to join the field for the 2027 election.
The daughter of a former Lebanese cabinet minister and an Armenian mother, Salamé has said she would reluctantly bow to the same pressure that has forced four other top female television news presenters with senior political partners to step aside in recent years if Glucksmann does decide to run.
Salamé suspended her television interviewing and radio news presenting work last year, when Glucksmann, 45, the father of her son, led a Socialist party alliance to relative success in last June's European elections.
Like many supporters, however, Salamé said the French understood that her impartiality would not be in question. 'From Emmanuel Macron to Marine Le Pen … I have never felt that in their eyes they were taking me for 'the wife of…',' she said. 'Times have changed and the French, including politicians, are much more feminist than people think.'
Media ethics and the relationships between male politicians and top female broadcasters has been a sensitive issue since 1992 when President Mitterrand, a Socialist, gave his traditional Bastille Day interview. His two interrogators were television stars married to senior cabinet ministers — Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Bernard Kouchner.
Some critics said France 2, the equivalent of BBC 1, had risked damaging the integrity of the public broadcaster in crowning Salamé as 'Queen of the 8PM', as the host of the daily hour-long Journal Télevisé, or JT, is known.
On the other side, a columnist in Libération, the left-wing newspaper, said that forcing women journalists off screen to ensure impartiality was patronising. 'Women like Salamé are expected to sacrifice their jobs to uphold an outdated notion of neutrality, while male journalists navigate similar conflicts with less consequence,' the column said.
Salamé is to take over presenting the 'JT' in September after Anne-Sophie Lapix lost her job last month because of falling ratings. Lapix, 53, is married to Arthur Sadoun, the chief executive of Publicis, the French-based advertising company.
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