The New Watchdogs Page #4

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aren't curious about business.

They have no taste for it.

It's also because

businesspeople keep quiet.

It's a struggle to get the m

to participate in debates

on this program, for example.

We're happy to have you!

Maybe you'll persuade others

to follow suit.

You're right, there's a fear...

For some prominent journalists,

frequenting business leaders

fosters a love of business

that is more than quietly platonic.

It jingles like gold.

As we all know, we live

in a globalized world, of which

we'll see a spectacular example tonight.

As you probably know, Microsoft...

When journalists use their reputation

to plug a product or a company

for financial reward,

it's called "double-dipping".

Conflict of interest is an obvious risk

and journalism's Code of Ethics

sternly reproves double-dipping.

But pick up the phone

and you'll find plenty who do it.

There's one for every purse.

Let's assume that Monsieur Lambert

manages a company called KTP Finance.

He phones up a specialized agency

to hire a well-known journalist.

...to celebrate their sales figures.

I'd like to hire

a journalist guest speaker.

Let's see what would happen.

Somebody high-end.

We've got a decent budget

but I want good value.

What sort of budget?

We're thinking about 15,000 euros.

That's a good budget.

We work with lots of journalists

at lots of different prices.

Whom did you have in mind?

Ideally, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor

or Christine Ockrent.

She doesn't do it any more.

She got told off.

She did but she stopped?

She got caught, you might say.

Guillaume Durand does it.

How much?

17,000 or 18,000.

- And Poivre d'Arvor?

- He's more like 25,000.

But Pujadas, Durand etc.

They're possible?

Not Pujadas.

Basically, forget about news anchors.

They're too exposed.

Exposed to what?

Getting paid serious money

to appear at a corporate function

is something they keep quiet about.

Is it?

It's hypocritical.

All journalists do it,

or let's say half of them.

But their management disapproves

if they use the celebrity

the y've gained on the job

to make money elsewhere...

I don't suppose you have a list

of journalists to choose from?

A what?

A list to choose from.

No! It would be too long,

and besides...

Monsieur Lambert keeps trying.

Soon he has the list he wants.

He is deluged with the CVs

of journalists willing to double-dip.

Full CVs, including their fees

and the names of satisfied companies.

From among the flood of candidates,

Lambert makes his choice.

Fortunately, he can afford her.

But does a champion of consumer rights

on France Inter radio

know how to boost

the corporate culture

of his workforce?

The reply comes quickly.

Isabelle Giordano isn't hidebound.

She's a true pro.

So pro, in fact,

that she happily double-dips

for a consumer credit company

and invites

its Chief Communications Officer

to speak on her consumer

protection show on public radio.

The Difference Is Independence.

The Difference Is Vigilance.

Paul Nizan The Watchdogs

"Bourgeois thought

always says to the people,

"Take my word for it.

Whatever I tell you is true.

"All the thinkers I nourish

have labored for you.

"You cannot re-study

all the problems they resolved

"or retrace the same paths,

"but you can accept the findings

of the se pure and selfless people,

"the se men who bear

the stamp of greatness

"and hold aloft from the common folk

for whom they labor

the keys to truth and justice."

Most television viewers

would like the news to be presented

not always by the same reader,

but by experts in the relevant field:

nternational, economic,

social, legal, or parliamentary.

In future, the news presenter

will act as a kind of ringmaster,

standing back to make way,

either for pictures

or for specialists on the topic.

I hope and believe

that all honest TV viewers,

that is almost all,

will agree that this new format,

involving less commentary

and letting the pictures,

the facts, and arguments

speak for the mselves,

will be a step towards objectivity

and depoliticization.

OBJECTMTY:

The information Minister's dream

came true.

The specialist, vouching for unbiased

and depoliticized news,

is now a permanent guest

in the TV studio,

radio newsroom,

and newspaper columns.

They call him the "expert".

Economist, sociologist,

political scientist or intellectual,

his academic credentials

give his words the gloss of science.

But the clique of experts is small,

scarcely 30 in all the media combined.

They zigzag from show to show,

relaying each other,

answering the questions

that the host thinks we should ask.

With us tonight

is an expert French economist.

Alain Minc, you wrote a book...

What about 2008, Christian?

First, it's interesting...

We've lost touch

with the young and the over-50s.

Monsieur Lorenzi.

It's as clear as daylight.

Jean-Herv Lorenzi.

I'm amazed we can't agree.

Nicolas Baverez,

I'd like to ask you first.

Nicolas Baverez,

historian and economist,

Jacques Attali,

President of Planete Finance.

Jacques Attali, it's 5:47.

We should see it as part

of a worldwide trend...

Elie Cohen, good morning.

Thank you for coming.

You're a research director.

Research director

and professor at Sciences Po.

Michel Godet, economics lecturer.

Let's focus on one of them.

Averagely intelligent,

averagely well known,

like the others,

he is often asked his opinion

on TV shows, talk radio,

and in the columns

of a major daily paper.

This ordinary expert's name

is Michel Godet.

Without noticing it,

France has practically

grown up with him.

In a changing world,

the rules must change too.

We can't afford

our old industrial relations,

our collective agreements,

our "little habits".

In future, we may have to agree

to take Wednesdays off

but work on Saturdays.

We can't face the future

with agreements signed in 1945

or even 1909, for railway workers.

In a changing world,

the rules must change.

How many hours do how many

people work in a lifetime?

How much work gets done?

If France goes on having

so few people in work,

doing so little and retiring

so young, it doesn't add up.

In countries where

there's less unemployment,

more people work, and for longer.

Rowing less hard

won't get you there faster.

We must work earlier,

work later,

work part-time

and be more flexible.

Our one-size-fits-all system

must change.

We have too few workers,

especially young and old,

and they don't work enough.

Work creates jobs!

Over the years,

his exhortations

to the French to work more

have enabled our expert,

at least, to earn more.

Thanks to his fame in the media,

he can charge high fees

for lecturing

to companies and institutions.

As introductions go, that was fairly...

complimentary but unnerving.

If he gives a lecture a month,

that's 78,000 euros per year.

Plus his salary as teacher

at the National Engineering School,

let's say 48,000,

plus his fees as director

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