The historic presenter of the news channel, accused of secretly broadcasting in his daily news the nighttime sequences not confirmed by his hierarchy, was fired by his employer BFM TV on Thursday 23 February. The broadcaster has also announced that it will file a complaint against X for “passive corruption and breach of trust”.
BFM TV is parting ways with an emblematic character, but one that has been hot for a month and a half. We will no longer see Rachid M’Barki breaking the news of the day on the continuous news channel late at night. Even fewer tell the stories of the country’s biggest criminal alongside Dominique Rizet on Let the Defendants In. Thursday morning, February 23, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, General Manager of BFMTV, announced to employees the dismissal for serious misconduct of the sweet-voiced journalist. The 54-year-old man, a former host of the channel’s Journal de la nuit, has been suspended from the air since January 11. In question: the discovery of the proliferation of sequences not validated by his hierarchy in his messages.
Two sequences, also identified by CheckNews, which were broadcast in the Journal de la nuit de BFMTV, led to the departure of the antenna’s flagship journalist. Specifically, a topic that aired on June 22 promoting a business forum between Spain and Morocco that was taking place in the Western Sahara city of Dakhla, a disputed and non-autonomous territory according to the United Nations, but which Morocco claims.
Internal Hearing
Marc Olivier Fogiel warned the broadcaster’s journalists and employees through an internal email. The station boss recalled being alerted earlier this year by Radio France, which was investigating Rachid M’Barki’s suspicious “acts”. A report that led to the opening of an “internal audit”. “Following the revelations by Radio France of journalist Rachid M’Barki’s actions leading to his dismissal from the job at 11th place during BFMTV’s Journal de la nuit […] These investigations made it possible to identify several sequences broadcast between 2021 and 2022 without respecting the validation processes and the editorial line.
“These shortcomings are the sole responsibility of a journalist who has not respected the rules in force in the editorial office. Management has decided to terminate his employment contract effective February 21,” the letter said.
Finally, Marc-Olivier Fogiel also announced that a complaint against X was filed on February 22nd. “The group has also decided to further strengthen its current systems and controls to allow better security of the content integration process and antenna control monitoring,” the press release further specifies.