A well-known French journalist suspended from employment for collaborating with an Israeli disinformation company

taketonews

  • Supposedly he worked for the same organization that tried to sabotage the 9-N consultation in Catalonia

  • The BFM TV presenter had spread biased information in favor of Morocco, Qatar or Russia

The opaque Israeli company that tried to sabotage the 9-N referendum in 2014 used not only a digital army of trolls, but also real-life journalists. The revelations about the call “Team Jorge & rdquor; have generated a great deal of controversy in France by splashing a well-known presenter of the chain bfm tvthe 24-hour information channel with the highest audience in the neighboring country.

The director of this channel suspended the veteran journalist from his duties Rachid M’Barki, 54, after learning that he had allegedly collaborated in this plot and divulged distorted information about Morocco, Sudan or Russia. She found out thanks to the group of journalists Forbidden Storieswhich revealed this week the existence of this unit of Israeli contractors led by Tal Hanan, a former agent of the israeli special forces.

M’Barki worked for bfm tv —one of the four 24-hour information channels in France— since its creation in 2005. In recent years it had presented the midnight news, but since January it had mysteriously disappeared from the air. The chain had not initially given any explanation about it. As revealed by Forbidden Stories and the French media that collaborate with this platform (the world and Radio France), the reason for his suspension from work is his alleged collaboration with the Israeli disinformation company.

Propaganda in favor of Morocco, Russia or Qatar

For example, he had published a suspiciously flattering television report in June about a watered-down business forum between Moroccan and Spanish businessmen in southern Morocco. A few months later, another document on the difficulties of the yachting industry in Monaco due to economic sanctions against Russia. He had also revealed information favorable to the authoritarian emirate of Qatar.

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According to the world and Radio France, those videos had reached him through the French intermediary Jean-Pierre Duthion who collaborated with the opaque company of Tal Hanan. In exchange for each of the tendentious reports that went on the air, they paid him 3,000 euros. “I have been entrusted with the mission of paying journalists to pass on information. I know your salaries and I know who may need it,” this intermediary told another journalist from bfm tv who tried to bribe. Marc-Olivier Fogiel, general director of the chain, has assured that “There are no other accomplices & rdquor; among journalists on staff.

However, M’Barki has denied that they have paid him to spread that content. According to him, she did it to do a favor “to an acquaintance & rdquor;, referring to Duthion. The presenter has been suspended from employment, although he retains his salary, and his future employment depends on the network’s internal investigation. If this information is confirmed, it would not only be a serious case of journalistic corruption, but also a interference by foreign powers. French intelligence services are already investigating him, according to Forbidden Stories.



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