Tuesday June 2, an unknown individual presents himself as a priest, claims to have confessed Xavier Dupont de Ligonnèsand airs stay on M6 in entrance of 1.6 million viewers. And it was all fully false.
M6 devoted a part of“Call for witnesses” to the Dupont de Ligonnès affair, promising “unique parts”. A person presenting himself as “Father Marc” known as stay and claimed to have obtained the fugitive’s confession in a monastery in Aude in 2022. He stated he had a photograph and a phone variety of the suspect, and guaranteed that he was performing with the settlement of his bishop. However the testimony was completely invented.
How calls are screened and why it failed
That night, greater than 1,000 calls had been obtained, ten instances greater than throughout an strange episode of the present, explains M6. The management system is easy:ARPD volunteers type, ask a number of questions, and switch probably the most “coherent” ones to Julien Courbet. Stan Vignon, editor-in-chief of the present, admits it to Parisian : “When a sworn statement appears considerably severe to us, we determine to place it on the air. This gentleman introduces himself as a priest, tells us: “I’ve all of the proof”. We, behind, will cross it on to you. »
The issue is that nobody known as the bishop whom the false priest cited as guarantor. Mgr Valentin is formal, in The Parisian : “By calling me, which they didn’t do, your colleagues may have deflated their so-called scoop. The race for the viewers has misplaced them. »
Doubts come up after the air
As quickly because the present ends, anxiousness rises. Stan Vignon tells in TV Magazine : “Half an hour after the top, we’re a little bit upset behind the scenes. » After an evening of discussions, the false father Marc finally ends up confessing. Nevertheless, M6 solely reacted the following afternoon, with no public press launch.
Julien Courbet, on RTL and M6, explains in full transparency: “The precept of stay is to say: we take all of the calls, we pray that there’s one that’s the proper one. Yesterday, it got here again to us. » He even throws the ball again to the channel: “We will query the precept of the present, I’ve no considerations about that. »
M6, for its half, hides behind the usage of the conditional stay. A skinny argument: the checks arrived after the printed.
Arcom seized, grievance thought of
Mgr Valentin contacted Arcom, contemplating the sequence “severely deceptive” and “severely defamatory” in opposition to him. His lawyer is contemplating submitting a grievance. It’s now as much as the regulator to say whether or not the “stay threat” can justify giving the airwaves, with out management, to an impostor on such a delicate felony matter.
