The Mbappé affair

Franceinfo listeners who wrote to Emmanuelle Daviet, the mediator of Radio France antennas, condemn the unfair treatment of this information that has attacked the media for several days. Florent Guyotat, deputy editorial director of franceinfo and Nathalie Iannetta, director of Sports at Radio France are with the mediator and answer questions from the audience.

Emmanuelle Daviet: Some of the listeners think that there was too much talk about this Mbappé relationship on air. According to what editorial criteria did you choose to access this information presented by two Swedish tabloids?

Florent Guyotat: So it is true that there was natural mistrust at the beginning, since it was a Swedish tabloid that talked about the matter for the first time. So it is clear that our first instinct is to wait to talk about it, to confirm the information.

The trigger is Kylian Mbappé himself, who chooses to talk about it on social networks, saying that it is fake news. And from the moment he talks about it, this matter becomes public. And with the international impact of the comments that Kylian Mbappé can give, we cannot ignore this issue. It is impossible. So from that moment on, we decided to talk about it, but talk about it politely.

Nathalie Ianetta: It is true that there was a debate in the editors, including the sports department, to know how to handle this case, about which we did not know anything, and do not know we still have today, about this Swedish case. But Florent is right, it is the media intervention of Kylian Mbappé himself, which allows us to consider that it is a public matter from now on, and especially the way he does it, by link up with his former club, Paris-Saint-Germain. And there, what we told on the air at that time is why Kylian Mbappé reacts, and how he deals with it, without being able to enter the legal field. Again, we didn’t know anything at the beginning of the case.

Investigators regret the lack of proof in the handling of this case, stressing that there is no certainty at this stage. So, what is your editorial policy for dealing with unproven allegations, especially when it concerns a public figure of Kylian Mbappé’s stature?

Florent Guyotat: So again, things are unproven, at least as they are, to us, and we haven’t talked about them. Certain things that our colleagues in the written media or our colleagues in the Swedish tabloids say. We have deliberately kept quiet about these assertions because we cannot verify them.

On the other hand, there are substantial things, especially this statement from the Swedish prosecutor who says that there is an investigation, an enforcement investigation, even though she does not say that this investigation is specifically aimed at Kylian Mbappé. But from the moment the player reacts on social networks, and the Swedish justice system confirms the opening of an investigation, here again, we decide to give publicity to this case.

I would like to point out that this effect is not absolute. We have not made a special edition talking strictly about this matter. Not all air time was wasted on Kylian Mbappé. On this day we also talk about the budget. We also talk about the situation in the Middle East. The Mbappé affair does not completely overshadow the rest of the news.

Nathalie Iannetta, the criticism also applies to the media’s coverage of news items in the field of sports. How does sports management deal with this type of issue? Where do you draw the line, the cursor, between sports and personal or legal information about athletes?

Nathalie Ianetta: We never discuss personal information. None of our business, if I may say so. Legal issues, on the other hand, depend on which ones, and it depends on where they are in the process. And then it depends on who, obviously. You know, this week Wissam Ben Yedder, who is an AS Monaco player, was convicted of sexual assault. We talked about it, reported on it and covered topics. But of course, it does not have the same effect.

So we can say it’s right or wrong, but it doesn’t have the same effect as when it affects other big names in sports. We, the end, if we are the ones to bring the matter to light, we had worked a lot, for example at the time on the relationship of Paul Pogba, in the blackness and racism in which he was involved two years ago. Therefore, if we are at the beginning of the investigation, it is clear that we follow it from beginning to end, and we only provide information that has been confirmed by sources.

When the tracks start talking about fun, then about justice. It’s also our colleagues from the franceinfo police and justice services who support us, who take over, because it’s not exactly the same sources, not the same it is completely reflexes. We work together, side by side, and it is often collegial work.

But it is true that we prefer to talk about sports and achievements rather than legal issues. But unfortunately, the world of sports is not free from the rest of society, and often it is on court cases as well.