Since this Wednesday followingnoon, television has been in mourning. At 71, Jean-Pierre Pernaut died of lung cancer. Sad news that brought many tears to the viewers he accompanied daily, during or just following lunch in the 13 hours of TF1, a news he presented for 33 years. The journalist was in a way part of the family.
For the first 13 hours following his disappearance, TF1 has therefore decided to pay tribute to the great man that was Jean-Pierre Pernaut and especially to his love for the regions. It is also with surprise that the JT opens with a “Goodmorning ladies and gentlemen” by Jean-Pierre Pernaut. As if he were still there. Jacques Legros takes over and launches this edition largely dedicated to his former colleague. “The disappearance of Jean-Pierre Pernaut shocked us all“, he said. “He was your guest every day at 1 p.m.“
Jean-Pierre Pernaut was the love of deep France and the desire to highlight it. The cameras of 13 hours therefore take viewers to the Villandraut market, in Gironde, to take the pulse of the French following this terrible news. “He was someone who had been part of our lives for over thirty years.“,”Jean-Pierre Pernaut is someone who mattered“, “He knew how to restore our image“, can we hear in the aisles of the market, this Thursday morning.
Invited to this edition to talk regarding the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, Jean Castex, the French Prime Minister, does not hide his emotion at the death of the presenter JT. “I wanted to come to this 13 hours from TF1“, he begins. “Jean-Pierre Pernaut, like most French people, I did not know him personally. But, he had returned to our hearts. It was more than a news, it was an open window on France in its diversity.” He keeps on: “He also had a form of humanity. (…) He was a very demanding person who worked a lot. (…) He knew how to talk regarding our country in its diversity. I say it as I mean it.“
The cameras then land in Amiens, birthplace of Jean-Pierre Pernaut, where, according to him, “the most beautiful cathedral in the world“. “We will miss him“, “He’s a father to us, we were born with“, confide the inhabitants in the city center. Then stop at the drafting of the Mail Picardregional newspaper where he had completed his internships before becoming the television star we know.
Jean-Pierre Pernaut’s strength also lies in having succeeded in creating a network of regional correspondents, which did not yet exist in France at the time. In the four corners of the country, each of them has a story with the presenter. Together they were one big family, as he liked to recall. Several correspondents paid tribute to him during this midday edition. Among them, Patrice Roubaud, correspondent in Corsica who might not hide his emotion. The journalist remembers these moments before JT when he tasted Corsican cheeses alongside the presenter. “Thank you JP“, he says to the camera before giving way to Corsican songs.
During the JT, Jacques Legros also returned to Jean-Pierre Pernaut’s ability to address a young audience. “I remember the day he opened the news with a cell phone in hand to say he was writing messages like young people“, says a young woman. His sections “SOS Villages” and “The week of employment” were also highlighted with, each time, speakers who came to testify to the benefits of the journalist’s initiatives.
Alongside journalism and the regions, Jean-Pierre Pernaut was particularly fond of motorsport and theatre. “He was passionate. He was doing well“, recalls Sébastien Loeb, French rally driver who had already had the opportunity to be interviewed on the set of the 13 hours.
As during the 20 hours of this Wednesday evening, the midday newspaper closes with the last words of Jean-Pierre Pernaut during his final news on TF1, December 18, 2020.
