TV MAGAZINE. - You present with Aurélie Casse "Polonews in the countryside", at 8 p.m. on BFMTV. Is this yet another talk show?Natacha POLONY. - I have a vision of the debate which consists in constantly introducing long time, references, and substantive subjects. I try to ensure that these characteristics always prevail. From time to time, we have debates which are truly exchanges on complex subjects, such as the question of purchasing power, or the situation in Ukraine. And then, we also have topical commentary. Now that the campaign has started, our job is to explain what is happening. What is hidden behind the sentence of such and such a candidate? We try to give viewers elements so that they can form their own opinion on the content, and not just on the form.

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You are also president of the Taste Institute. What is the flavor of this campaign?It is tasteless, odorless, colorless and a bit mushy as the politicians play the next shot. That is to say that the debates do not take place... Hence the complexity of making quality programs where we do not simply comment on the foam, but where we introduce a little bit of deep thoughts and reflection. It's a lot of work, a permanent fight against this kind of disintegration of political debate.

In “Polonews in the countryside”, you said this Wednesday, January 26 that you would like to exile yourself to another era. Which would you choose?I don't know, because I don't imagine other eras were better. It was a joke. But it's true that every day, we have an alert on the latest stupidity. I am thinking for example of M&M’s. They are going to change in the United States so that the characters are more inclusive because they were too feminized. It makes me want to shoot myself when I see that (Laughs). This kind of information makes me say that our time still has a capacity to increase the rate of bullshit per square meter which is fascinating.

How do you explain this trend?Social networks play a role in this. They obviously amplify silly reactions and excitement. But there is also the import of an American Puritan culture that I find absolutely distressing. This form of puritanism reduces the world to a conflict between the dominant and the dominated. Knowing that the dominants are always the same: the heterosexual white male, who is really a putrid scum. It is the zero degree of thought.

Your job is also to give your opinion… Where do you stand on the political spectrum? I think I'm pretty hard to position. People on the right or extreme right consider me an infamous leftist. And people on the left or far left, for some, consider me obviously a cryptofascist. I think it's quite reassuring, because I assume to be committed, at the head of the newspaper Marianne, which is not only a magazine of opinion, but of commitment.

Cyril Hanouna receives Jean-Luc Mélenchon in "Face à Baba", this Thursday evening on C8. Is this host credible in the political debate? Today, I fully understand why candidates in a presidential election feel the need to go to Cyril Hanouna. It makes sense: there is an audience, a way of reaching people who do not necessarily vote, and that those registered in the race for the Élysée cannot reach otherwise. So they have an interest in it. If it can really ensure that citizens who do not follow political debates have some ideas on crucial choices, it goes through that.

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The National Union of Radio France Journalists pinned a video broadcast on France Inter's social networks. Marine Le Pen, candidate for the National Rally, answers questions facing the camera about her first times, such as her first demonstration, but also her first cat. Do you find this indignation justified? What bothers me is that it is an indignation with variable geometry. How is it more shocking with Marine Le Pen than with other presidential candidates, if not because we consider that she would embody a moral evil? In these cases, it must be explained that we consider that there is a moral duty for journalists, who would therefore be directors of conscience and priests. That's not my view of things.

Do you think this controversy would not have taken place if Anne Hidalgo had participated in this video? Of course! Everyone would probably find it appalling, but no one would say it was wrong.

You spent three seasons on the talk show "On n'est pas couche", hosted by Laurent Ruquier on France 2. What memories do you keep of this period, and are you still in contact with the host?He's very shy and so am I. So we didn't really keep a bond. I worked with him, it was very pleasant. He is someone who is deeply respectful of people. So it was going very well. But we don't have a friendship. Maybe because I never dared and neither did he. Afterwards, I don't know if I am his cup of tea ideologically. But that's okay, because it doesn't prevent us from working together with respect.

Do you think that Laurent Ruquier orients his program "On est en direct" too far to the left, every Saturday evening, on France 2?I have very often found myself on a set where we were eight. I was the only one to defend one idea against all the others. There is indeed a form of cultural leftism which is very widespread in the media, in the artistic world, and which is cut off from the working classes. It is extremely worrying.

You are Marianne's editorial director. And this week, the society of editors has stepped up to the plate about Caroline Fourest, columnist in this magazine. In a statement, journalists denounced his attacks on deputy editor Gabriel Libert. Does Caroline Forest have your support?The story is complex. Caroline Forest is a regular employee, she is not an employee, and she is also a member of the supervisory board of the CMI group to which Marianne belongs. This controversy is based on an in-depth journalistic debate, on an investigation, which I have chosen to publish. This is an investigation by our journalist Gabriel Libert. Caroline Fourest will, I think, take responsibility for what she thinks of Marianne. She probably has some conclusions to draw. These things are being decided. I specify that I had the freedom to have this investigation published, even though Caroline Fourest disputed what was written, and which was the fruit of a long-term work. The CMI group told me: “It is your responsibility, you do it in your soul and conscience and the shareholder does not have to interfere in it”. That's what happened. Afterwards, whether Caroline Fourest likes it or not, that's another debate.

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