Deez Interviews: Meet the French journalist who wants the industry to remember its purpose (and to be funny!)
Happy Friday, Deezers! Today’s interview goes across the pond to talk about differences in French and American media landscapes, as well as what students and outlets should be thinking about when looking ahead to the future. Enjoy!
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The interviewee: Elian Peltier (follow him at @elianpeltier)
The gig: I’m a reporter at the Paris bureau of The New York Times, which consists of five journalists. I keep an eye on everything France-related — i.e Macron's latest law, terrorist cases, or Catherine Deneuve's questionable statements on #MeToo...
You studied at Sciences Po and the Missouri School of Journalism, both world-renowned journalism schools. What, if anything, do you think was missing from the syllabus that all J students today should know?
I don't remember learning why it was important to do the job we're doing, at Mizzou or in Paris. It might sound silly, but after the 2016 and 2017 presidential elections in the U.S. and in France, I came to realize that a good journalism education could involve some teachings of the basics — who are we working for, why are we talking to people, why it is important. Getting to know your audience could also be emphasized.
If they could also teach us how to make money, that wouldn't hurt — I'm kidding, classes on freelancing are great.
As a journalist who’s worked in the U.S. and France, can you speak to the basic differences in media landscapes between both countries?
The French media landscape has very strong public media, both in radio and broadcast. But private media is struggling, and they are not investing in anything seen as innovative (podcasts, AR/VR, messaging services...) so we don't really know where they're going.
On the other hand, a bunch of smaller initiatives are blossoming, such as the video service Brut, which opened offices in the US and in India, with an aim at targeting English-speaking audiences. They could be compared to NowThis. France is also the country that has the biggest number of domestic versions of US media — BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Vice, Vanity Fair, HuffPost, etc... But the market is much, much smaller.
Earlier this year, two weekly magazines have launched here, which seems ambitious if not risky given the current environment... One of them doesn't have a website, the other one is still considering having one. In 2018.
What's something you've worked on recently that you’re proud of?
A couple of weeks ago I reported on volunteers who rescue migrants crossing the border between France and Italy, often at night and in freezing temperatures.
We've seen and read and listened to so many migrants stories, that it's become hard to get new ones accepted by our editors. But I felt that this one was special, and it turned out to be one of the most challenging stories I've worked on.
In terms of format, it's the first mobile-first story produced by the NYT's Paris bureau — we call these stories the "What I Saw" stories at the New York Times. I filmed the volunteers and the migrants with two smartphones.
You’ve also spent time working in video at places like Al Jazeera and VICE, and 360 video, too. What currently excites you most about this field?
I have a profound admiration for Al Jazeera's immersive media studio, Contrast VR, which is doing the greatest thing in the industry right now by training young civilians and local journalists to do 360 videos and the results are amazing.
Quartz is still doing an amazing job at making complex stuff understandable — like this series on how big companies became big companies — and their AR app works with my cute iPhone SE, and their messaging service is still fun and interesting. The NYT had a great messaging app for its Winter Olympics, which reminded a similar initiative from the Washington Post during the German elections.
And I'm also always looking for small and engaging podcasts — a couple of months ago I discovered The Irrelevant Arabs, which I warmly recommend for anyone interested in the Middle East.
What do you think media outlets should be investing the most in for 2018?
Invest in being funny! Seriously, I need jokes in my morning briefings: send me jokes, make me smile, I'll pay.
And I’d say invest in online videos now so when 5G arrives, we’ll be watching our phones 24/7, and at least the news media will be ready.
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You can keep up with Elian on Twitter here, and definitely make it your Friday requisite to check out his NYT interactive Rescuing Migrants Fleeing Through the Frozen Alps.
That’s it! Have a great weekend my peeppeeps.
Like Deez Links? Forward this to anyone else still ‘considering’ having a website in 2k18 lol.