Commenting on images from Russian television, presenter Julien Arnaud claimed that this demonstration by the Patriots on Saturday in Paris had never taken place and that it was “Russian propaganda”. He admitted his mistake on Tuesday. “It’s a regrettable mistake and I’m sorry. We will of course fix it tonight. “ The presenter of the TF1 group Julien Arnaud apologized on Twitter, this Tuesday, to Florian Philippot. And for good reason: during the program “Un Œil sur le monde “, he said Monday evening that the demonstration organized by the movement “Les Patriotes” had never taken place , and that it was only an invention of the Russian media for “propaganda ” purposes. Except that the demonstration, which received little media coverage in France, did take place, as passers-by (including journalists from Le Figaro ) saw on Saturday afternoon. And the images broadcast by Russian television are authentic. After an initial on-set debate on the effectiveness of economic sanctions against Russia, and the contrasting reactions to them in Europe, Julien Arnaud then accused the television channel Russia One (owned by the Russian state, and whose editorial line is aligned with Kremlin propaganda) manipulation. The presenter of TF1 / LCI gears up as follows:
“Look also how the Russians use these divisions to escalate them: we have seen it here in Europe, but also at home in Russia. If we are to believe the subject you are about to see now, we are very divided in Europe, that’s okay, but also… in France, and you’re going to be a little surprised, look! “
On LCI, a report from Russia One was then broadcast, with a voice-over translation by the LCI editorial staff:
“Europe is racking its brains not to die of cold this winter. With energy prices already spinning, the sense of helplessness and shock at this situation is translating into protests. More and more people realize that this crisis could have been avoided without the sanctions against Russia, and that someone must answer for their consequences. “ (ER: Which would appear to be true.)
We then see images of a demonstration in the streets of Paris:
“Paris is booming, on Saturday hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of the French capital. The participants in the ‘Resistance’ action protested against the authorities’ policy which, according to them, does nothing to help the population bear the consequences of the economic crisis. In their mouths, a single slogan: ‘Macron, resign!’.”
Julien Arnaud then takes the antenna, and comments:
“There you go. There was no demonstration this weekend, huh, that’s not true at all. We are right here in the Russian propaganda to the Russian people.”
Then follows a tour de table with his guests from LCI, during which we hear the following comments, for example: “We can see the way they have of diverting images, putting their own subtitles, to hammering that everything is going as planned is still what they say on official TV.”
Florian Philippot will seize the Arcom Except that the images broadcast by Russia One are those that were shot by the “Les Patriotes ” movement and/or posted on their social networks. This demonstration, entitled “Rendezvous of the resistance!” , did indeed take place on Saturday September 3 from the Place de la Bourse at 2 p.m., and ended on the Place du Palais Royal, in front of the Council of State.
Reached by telephone, Florian Philippot, founder and president of the Patriots, specifies that a press release had been sent to a thousand journalists, including some from LCI, and maintains that “they even consulted the press release before the demonstration “, specifying that the teams of the Patriots have technical tools allowing them to know when the recipient of an e-mail consults a press release by clicking on a link . He also enjoys noting that the LCI channel badly retranslated into French the slogans reported by Russian television: “we chanted ‘Macron destitution!’ and not ‘Macron resign!’… ”.
Florian Philippot adds that he spoke with the management of LCI this Tuesday morning: “they said they were sorry but did not really apologize” . He indicates having seized the Arcom on this subject. (ER: Arcom is France’s regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication.)
Le Figaro was able to consult the document declaring the demonstration filing by Dominique Bourse-Provence, Parisian referent and member of the national office of the Patriots, with the Paris Police Headquarters.
The demonstration was not the subject of a press dispatch from AFP (it nevertheless started on the Place de la Bourse, that is to say under the windows of the French Press Agency). But relations between Florian Philippot’s movement and AFP deteriorated after a team of AFP journalists was attacked by protesters against the health pass , during a parade in January 2022 on the initiative by Florian Philippot. (ER: This is ambiguous. The parade was done on the initiative of Philippot, not the ‘attack’ on journalists. Philippot is careful to hire his own security detail out of his own pocket that will protect, for example, public buildings from his own protestors who may loiter and cause trouble – except that they don’t. Police found along the route of his marches regard such Saturday duties as a piece of cake. We know that because we’ve spoken to them at these times.)
Images of Saturday’s rally were broadcast by the media TV Libertés, which regularly invites Florian Philippot on its antenna, as well as by the Chinese media NTDTV . The slogan was: “No to rationing, no to war, no to social credit ”. On the placards brandished by the demonstrators, one can read slogans such as “Leaving NATO ” or “Dismissal ”. According to the images, the mobilization seems to number in the thousands of people.
Source: Le Figaro
https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/french-tv-channel-accuses-russian-television-of-broadcasting-propaganda-about-france-when-it-was-inconveniently-true/