François Picard
EducationSwarthmore College (BA)
Occupation(s)Journalist, TV Anchor and Host
EmployerFrance24
Known forTV journalism

François Picard is a dual national Franco-American journalist.[1] He hosts the French current affairs talk show The Debate. On Fridays, he hosts the journalist roundtable discussion show The World This Week.

Early life

Picard attended the Lycée Français de New York. His first exposure to journalism was as a summer intern at Paris photo news agency Sipa Press in 1984. Picard graduated with honors from Swarthmore College.[2] He studied for two semesters at the Université de Paris-IV Sorbonne.

Career

Early career

Picard started his career in Hudson Valley local radio, working at WKIP in Poughkeepsie, WRWD and WAMC. He has won multiple awards for local news coverage (including from New York State National Association of Broadcasters, Associated Press and National Association of Broadcasters).

In 1990, he moved back to France where he reported for Radio France International, Marketplace radio, UPI and Eurosport. Assignments included the 1994 D-Day commemorations, the building of EuroDisney (now DisneyLand Paris) and the launch of the Eurostar service between Paris and London. Among the sporting events he covered were two Olympics, the Tour de France and the 1994 Football World Cup.

West Africa bureau chief

His first African assignments for Radio France International took him to Mali and Somalia before being named at 27 as Abidjan staff bureau chief for RFI.[3]

From 1995 to 1998 he chronicled Ivory Coast's escalating political tension for RFI and Le Monde, as well as civil wars in Liberia[4] and Sierra Leone.[5] From 1995 Ivory Coast's boycotted election of Henri Konan Bédié, the arrival of the mercenaries Executive Outcomes in Sierra Leone to the April 1996 street fighting in Liberia's capital Monrovia and Jerry Rawlings' re-election in Ghana 1996, Picard covered the entire region[6] with several trips to Nigeria including the 1997 funeral in Lagos of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti. In 1997, he was one of the foreign reporters trapped in a hotel surrounded by RUF rebels in Freetown.[7]

France 24

After returning to Paris and working for RFI's reporting assignment and business desks, Picard joined Eurosport.[8]

When France 24 was launched on 6 December 2006, Picard was an opening night news presenter for the English-language channel.[9] He covered events such as the 2007 French presidential election,[10] the 2008 financial crisis in Dubai, and in 2010 the Ivory Coast election and subsequent return to civil war.

In 2010, Picard was named host of flagship current affairs program The France 24 Debate.[3] His panels bring together different perspectives on topics of the day[11][12] such as the 2015 Paris Climate Change Summit, Algeria's pro-democracy movement[13] and the migrant crisis.[14] Interviews have included Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari who told Picard that he wanted to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the 219 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. Picard's shows bring together prominent newsmakers and scholars.[15] He has appeared on radio and TV debates as a guest and a moderator.[16][17][18]

On Fridays, he hosts the journalists' roundtable The World This Week which was first launched in partnership with the International Herald Tribune and then The Daily Beast with foreign editor Christopher Dickey as regular panellist until his death in July 2020.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Foreman, Liza (21 October 2008). "In Normandy, a River Retreat (Published 2008)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  2. ↑ e-yearbook.com (tm). "Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA), Class of 1988, Page 70 of 248 | E-Yearbook.com has the largest online yearbook collection of college, university, high school, middle school, junior high school, military, naval cruise books and yearbooks. Search and browse yearbooks online!". e-yearbook.com. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  3. 1 2 "François PICARD". France 24. 28 November 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "Les milices krahns sont assiégées au centre de la capitale libérienne". Le Monde.fr (in French). 19 April 1996. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Guerre civile et spéculation entretiennent la disette en Sierra Leone". Le Monde.fr (in French). 4 February 1996. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  6. ↑ Adjovi, Emmanuel V. (1998). Une élection libre en Afrique : la présidentielle du Bénin, 1996. Paris: Karthala. p. 22. ISBN 2-86537-835-7. OCLC 40614296.
  7. ↑ French, Howard W. (3 June 1997). "Nigerians Fire on Rebels Who Seized Sierra Leone (Published 1997)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  8. ↑ "French Have a Word for Zidane: Pourquoi?". NPR.org. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  9. ↑ Hézard, Daphné; Bound, Robert. "Spread the news". Monocle. 8 (79): 131–134. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Election News Special with François Picard - The Global Herald". 9 May 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Mian, Ms Hilary Stauffer, Dr Jameson W. Doig, Barrister Atif. "Freedom of expression gives one the right to insult?". The Muslim Debate. Retrieved 26 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Jacobsen, Scott Douglas. "François Picard | BIEN — Basic Income Earth Network". Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Algerian protesters mark hirak anniversary with call for new regime | Africa Times". africatimes.com. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  14. ↑ "TV Debate: A Mediterranean Graveyard for Migrants?". TV Debate: A Mediterranean Graveyard for Migrants? | CMI. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  15. ↑ "Landis in the News 2013". Syria Comment. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "World Cup Woes Spark Indignation In France". NPR.org. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  17. ↑ "Children of the Fatherland: The rise of the extreme right in France, Part 1 | CBC Radio". CBC. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  18. ↑ "Débat - Infox et stratégies de désinformation : les armes du XXIe siècle ?". Normandie pour la paix (in French). Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  19. ↑ "Coronavirus: Life under lockdown". tv.guardian.ng. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
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