The presenter reportedly aired briefs relating to Russian oligarchs, Qatar and Western Sahara.
The ax fell. Journalist Rachid M’Barki, presenter of the night news (midnight to 4:30 a.m.) on the non-stop news channel BFMTV, was fired on Wednesday afternoon for “serious misconduct” by the management of the Altice group (BFMTV, RMC, etc.), according to information from Telerama, confirmed by Le Figaro. The general manager of the chain, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, announced it on the morning of this Thursday to the employees, a few minutes before sending an official email.
“Following the revelations of Radio France relating to the actions of the journalist Rachid M’Barki which led to his exemption from activity on 11 last January, the group initiated an internal audit in order to examine the veracity of the incidents reported and likely to have taken place during The Night Diary the BFMTV. These investigations made it possible to identify several sequences, between 2021 and 2022, which were broadcast without respecting the validation process and the editorial line. “, he wrote in his email to the teams. “These shortcomings are the sole responsibility of a journalist who has not respected the rules in force within the editorial staff.“, he continues.
Seventeen years with the chain
The group also filed a complaint “against X“Wednesday, for”breach of trust» et «corruption passive“. The idea being, according to our information, to broaden the spectrum of the investigation beyond Rachid M’Barki, by targeting in particular the Israeli disinformation agency which would have been, according to the investigation of the Forbidden Stories consortium, at the origin of the information “biased” broadcast on the BFM antenna. Suspicions of foreign interference would thus relate to a dozen briefs with, for some of them, illustrative images from outside, relating in particular to Russian oligarchs, Qatar or Western Sahara.
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Questioned on February 2 by our colleagues from Politico, Rachid M’Barki had specified to see “used information that [lui] came from informants” and who don’t have “not necessarily followed the usual course of writing”, but who were “all real and verified, I do my job… I don’t rule anything out, maybe I was taken in, I didn’t feel like I was, or that I was taking part in a fraud operation. I don’t know what, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.” he defended himself.
Now 54, journalist Rachid M’Barki had spent more than seventeen years with the channel, which he had integrated into its creation. Beyond the night newspaper, the Toulouse-born journalist also presented since 2020 on the RMC Story channel the show Let the accused enter. The search for his replacement for the animation of the famous show is now underway.