Stéphan Bureau had not set foot on TVA since briefly presenting L’évoluant in 2006, when he began preparing for the next major Friday night public affairs event, The world upside down, in the spring. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, but to his astonishment, he quickly got the feeling that everyone was happy that he was coming home.
• Also read: “The interview that changed my life”
• Also read: “The world turned upside down”: The new show by Stéphan Bureau starts on September 16th
“I have the impression at the moment, and it’s a bit cheesy as a formula, to go home, which has rarely happened to me because I find people I’ve worked with there who are 25 years old who are there and the detours made to visit me when we were working on the pilot project. They gave me a really warm welcome. It hasn’t happened often and I’m very moved by it. I didn’t think they would remember us working together,” says the 58-year-old innkeeper.
Although he’s spent most of his career as a journalist and presenter at Radio-Canada, TVA is truly at home, notes the man who was the station’s first Washington correspondent and hosted the last Bulletin evening from 1990-1997.
Two companies, two different cultures, he emphasizes.
“I had extraordinary memories and I worked with people I really liked [à Radio-Canada], but when I returned to radio, for example, after a 12-year absence, I never felt like coming home. I don’t think it’s personal, I think Radio-Canada is a Spanish inn, which means we always find what we bring or bring there.
freedom
After five years on the radio, however, his most recent departure from the Crown Corporation was not a moving farewell with tremolos in his voice.
Let’s summarize the facts. Last summer, following a complaint, Radio-Canada’s Ombudsman ruled that Stéphan Bureau should have corrected or rephrased the statements made by his guest, controversial French doctor Didier Raoult. Far from apologizing, Stéphan Bureau had replied angrily: “I leave it to others to grovel and ask for forgiveness”.
A few months later, he affirms that he harbors no resentment and that “99.9%” of the time he has had the freedom to do whatever he wants. He emphasizes that the ombudsman is a parallel institution detached from the SRC.
As for his new TVA bosses, he says he received assurances from them that he was free to invite whoever he wanted to his studio.
“One of our goals is to ensure that the antenna or the group is not distorted, but to ensure that our people’s ecosystem is not just Quebecor’s ecosystem. Not only did they agree, but it was part of their intentions.
“The public will play their part”
So let’s talk about this famous show, whose creation was anything but a long calm river.
Initially dubbed Sit down, this “debate and news platform” was scheduled to go on the air on Sunday evenings in April in direct competition with “Everyone speaks about it”.
However, after capturing the pilot emissions, its craftsmen estimated that the deck would need to be reshuffled. The grand premiere has been pushed back to September 16, the time to refine the concept.
Four months later, the program is now called Le monde à l’envers, it will be broadcast on Friday evenings in a 90-minute format, “so as not to be in a hurry,” the moderator rejoices, where “all opinions will be allowed” and above all presented to an audience present in the studio.
Stéphan Bureau is particularly pleased about the presence of spectators, especially since the audience will not only deliver applause on command.
“The public will do their part. Occasionally he is occupied. We will ensure that there are representatives or individuals who will be directly challenged by the topics we are likely to be speaking about, so that we can occasionally reach out to that audience to add to or reinvigorate the conversation.
Free expression
Of course, we suspect that this news fanatic will never jump into the arena of debate soon enough, given that he’s currently watching behind-the-scenes topics scrolling by in the news that would turn his world’s golden stuff upside down.
Instinctively, he alludes to the CRTC’s recent decision to demand an apology from Radio-Canada for its use of the “N-word.” “That would have been an issue. Not because it’s Radio Canada, but because I’m interested in free speech issues. »
While Quebec and Canadian issues are plentiful enough to fill his show, international news isn’t left out. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan, which angered China, is a good example.
“You would have to be very naive to believe that it doesn’t affect us,” says Stéphan Bureau.
In short, strong on September 16th. “I can’t wait,” he concludes.