Secret film recordings have shown French Socialist Party executives held discussions with prominent public service journalists regarding strategy for the 2027 national election and the municipal elections of 2026.
The recordings of apparent collusion caused an uproar in France, with many on the Right questioning the presumed neutrality of journalists and public broadcasting. One of the journalists involved received a suspension as a precautionary measure.
L’Incorrect, a Conservative magazine, released the recordings on September 5. They apparently featured Pierre Jouvet, MEP and Secretary General of the Socialist Party, Luc Broussy, President of the party’s National Council, and journalists Thomas Legrand (France Inter and Libération) and Patrick Cohen (France Inter and France 5).
In the recordings, the four men discuss strategies to position MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, currently polling at 10 per cent, as the leading Socialist candidate in the 2027 presidential election and to prevent the centre-right Rachida Dati, currently Minister of Culture, from becoming mayor of Paris in the 2026 ballot.
They also debate how to promote wind turbines and renewable energy, noting the growing grassroots opposition across France — a movement that is increasingly gaining support from the Right.
The secret recordings were filmed on July 7, in an upperclass neighbourhood in Paris, just a few days after Cohen clashed on TV with Dati.
Legrand had been writing an opinion piece, focusing on the 2027 ballot, where he talked about “the far-right” and the need for a return to the Left, more precisely “the ecologists, the Socialists and the former LFI-sts but also the Communists, Raphaël Glucksmann and Pascal Canfin”.
The four men talked in depth about the political situation in France, expressing their preferences and sympathies, in particular for Glucksmann.
Legrand said: “The centre-right, centre-left swamp, we don’t hear them much, but they listen to France Inter. And they listen in droves. Would this mean that it is France Inter that will be in charge of convincing them to vote for Glucksmann?”
He also wondered about the political situation in Paris, held by the Left for over two decades, asking “Is Paris risky or not with Dati?”
Paris is set for a change of voting method and Jovet warned: “It’s going to be a game-changer,” to which Legrand replied: “Patrick and I, we do what we have to do for Dati.”
It led to L’Incorrect concluding: “The strategy could not be clearer: Use the public media, financed with taxpayers’ money, to bring down Dati.”
France Inter decided to suspend Legrand after the leak of the compromising video.
In a reaction to the recording, Dati said: “Journalists from the public service and Libération claim to be ‘doing what is necessary’ to eliminate me from the election in Paris.
“These are serious statements that contravene professional ethics and may result in sanctions. Everyone must now take responsibility for their actions.”
President of the right-wing National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said: “The bias of the ‘public service’ in favour of the Left, and particularly France Inter, was common knowledge. The Legrand-Cohen affair provides further proof that certain journalists use this platform to advance a political agenda.”
He asked about Arcom, the audiovisual and digital watchdog that often battles Conservative media.
“It is time to begin the process of privatising public broadcasting. The French people should no longer be forced to use their tax money to finance a media outlet that has abandoned its mission of neutrality and plurality,” Bardella concluded.
Eric Zemmour, of the Réconquete party, similarly noted: “Public broadcasting is now nothing more than a propaganda tool serving the Left. They are waging war against you, using your tax money. The proof is in the pictures. Public broadcasting must be privatised.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the left-wing de facto leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), said that the video was “shocking”.
“Two key journalists from the official PS camp, Thomas Legrand and Patrick Cohen, conspire to promote an ‘axis from Ruffin to Canfin’ and Glucksmann. The cast chooses its political masks.”
Jérémie Patrier-Leitus, deputy of the centrist Horizon Party, announced he had referred the matter to Arcom.
He said: “A journalist should not say that”; “should not be involved in politics”; and that “the public audiovisual service must be neutral”.
Legrand defended himself: “My job is to fight Mrs Dati’s lies and her attitude towards the press. I don’t fight it politically.” He refused to comment on his suspension from France Inter.
In a tweet on September 6, he stressed that the video was taken without knowledge of those speaking, saying it was truncated and should be regarded with suspicion.
“The reality is that all journalists meet with personalities of all stripes for unfiltered discussions. These discussions in no way reveal a privileged relationship with any one person or group,” he said.
Legrand added he had “a frank conversation” with the politicians and, regarding the comments made about Dati, he noted that she is facing numerous legal proceedings but admitted he made “some awkward remarks”. He added that he had said he meant to “take care of her” regarding her lies and would tackle her as a journalist, not politically.
“It is possible, through a stolen video, to bring an entire profession into question. Those who fall into this trap will be trampling on the principles that underpin our public sphere, starting with freedom of the press,” he said.
Many fellow journalists and the Socialists Party came out against the use of secret recordings, despite such often being used in investigative journalism, and called L’Incorrect, which broke the story, “extreme Right”.
The SNJ, the national syndicate of journalists, published a statement in support of the journalists and attacked Radio France’s managers for suspending Legrand. It accused them of wilting under pressure from Conservative media.
“Fortunately, the facts are stubborn, and the reality much simpler: It is enough to see the columns of the two journalists, regularly and legitimately focused on the Minister of Culture, her legal troubles, her political ambitions, and above all her media methods, marked by excesses and contempt for the truth,” the SNK stated.
“The way she asks for the heads of the two editorialists illustrates this once again.”
In a statement, the Socialist Party attacked L’Incorrect, calling it “extreme Right” repeatedly. It said the party supported freedom of the press and did speak with journalists but that there was no collusion between party members and the media.
🔴 Réaction du Parti socialiste aux vidéos diffusées par le média d'extrême droite L'incorrect.
Notre communiqué 👉 https://t.co/1IbPZnlAKb pic.twitter.com/DCqkONtZVp
— Parti socialiste (@partisocialiste) September 6, 2025
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