BFMTV Anchor Suspended Over Unauthorized Sahara Report, Internal Investigation Launched

"I am accused of having given on the air information that did not go through the official validation channels," confirms to Le Parisien the Franco-Moroccan Rachid M’Barki, citing in particular an economic forum between Morocco and Spain in Dakhla, in the Sahara, or threatened jobs on the Côte d’Azur due to the disappearance of Russian oligarchs after the start of the war in Ukraine. The BFMTV presenter claims to have only broadcast content that he simply found "interesting" to give to viewers.

But "suspicions of interference" weigh on him. "He took a little ticket to get information through," already accuses one of his colleagues. "It’s not excluded that he did it out of simple amateurism or lightness," wants to believe another. "We are all stunned," summarizes a third. "Fantasy," brushes aside Rachid M’Barki. Not enough to convince the management of BFMTV, which has opened an internal investigation, to find out if he "acted alone, and identify the dysfunctions that allowed the airing of these briefs outside of all the usual internal rules."

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This affair has prompted the management of the continuous news channel to sideline the presenter. Since mid-January, it is Thomas Joubert who presents the "Journal de la nuit" of BFMTV.