Sonia Mabrouk responds to criticism from BFMTV unions after a controversial interview

His response will not be long in coming. Six months after leaving CNews, Sonia Mabrouk made her highly anticipated debut on BFMTV a few weeks ago.

A remarkable arrival, which however does not seem to everyone's taste, including within its new editorial team. The Society of Journalists (SDJ) of the continuous news channel was the first to express its concern, denouncing the arrival of Pascal Praud's former comrade on channel 13 of TNT. “There is no question of our news channel becoming, through this program, a pale copy of an opinion channel. We will remain very attentive to this, as we enter the presidential period,” recalled the SDJ in an exchange obtained by Le Parisien.

“I am not the first to have a press release from the SDJ (…) It is not “CNewiser” BFM. And since it’s not a question, I sometimes hear, that I’m “BFMized”. I don't know what it is. I have the weakness to believe that I try to do my job well, like you around this table,” she defended herself at the microphone of Benjamin Duhamel in “Le grand interview”, on August 27.

This Thursday, September 10, it was the National Society of Journalists (SNJ) and the CGT of the RMC BFM group who stepped up to the plate. In a press release, the two unions first strongly criticized the interview with Sarah Knafo broadcast on September 7, accusing the journalist of having been able to “deploy her argument on “native French” as opposed to “branch French”” without being contradicted by the journalist. “Obviously, it seems quite natural that this expression, notoriously far-right and racist, occupies a significant place in this 45-minute interview with Ms. Knafo, without any opposition or historical reframing on the use of this type of semantics,” they denounced. The proportion of far-right speakers is then singled out, judged to be significantly higher than that of left-wing speakers.

The day after the publication of this press release, the new recruit of the channel wanted to respond, a second time. “Journalism is pluralism,” wrote Sonia Mabrouk on X. She then warns viewers, but especially her collaborators: “You will have to get used to it.” “Your political and democratic hemiplegia is dishonorable, especially in the middle of the presidential campaign. I will not let myself get dirty,” she added. The tone is set.