Claude Sérillon


Claude Sérillon, is a French journalist and TV presenter.

Biography

Claude Sérillon was a student at the school of Breil-Malville and then at :fr:Lycée Jules-Verne |Jules Verne high school ; he did his graduate studies in letters at the University of Nantes, obtaining a Bachelor's degree. While still a student, he started working in journalism in 1970 as a freelancer for the newspaper :fr:Presse-Océan|Presse-Océan. His work for this newspaper started on the occasion of a trip to Norway where he proposed a story about the football club Strømsgodset IF, champions of Norway in 1970, that the FCN was scheduled to meet later in the European Cup. Later, in the afternoon of 28 January 1972, during his journalism work, he found himself at the :fr:Place Saint-Pierre |Saint-Pierre square when a fire started in the Nantes Cathedral; he was the first journalist at the scene, following the fire-fighters right to the fire in the attic of the building, and his report was an essential part of the paper the next day, the first page only contained a picture of the fire and the words "16 hours 19 ".

Television

In 1973 he joined the ORTF Ile-de-France. He started work at TV station Antenne 2 in 1975 and took control of the news show at 18:45 the following year, from 1976 up to 1979.
In 1979 he was in charge of the press review at :fr:Antenne 2 Midi|Antenne 2 Midi and is commended for reporting of the diamond affair of Jean-Bédel Bokassa, involving Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
He started editing again in July 1981, as editor of the society department, and he also started presenting :fr:Journal de 20 heures|Journal de 20 heures in summer 1982.
In February 1984 he left Antenne 2 for TF1 where he presented their :fr:Journal de 20 heures|Journal de 20 heures. His work there then stalled against the tandem of rival TV presenter team Christine Ockrent / Bernard Rapp.
Uncomfortable with the editing of TF1 and opposed to the style of the news show they put on the air in January 1985, which was dramatized and sensationalized, he remained nostalgic for channel A2 and eventually returned to his earlier employ in January 1986 to present the 20 hours alternating with Bernard Rapp
He was dropped from the 20 heures news show in July 1987 for having "abused" the chief of police of Paris in the :fr:Affaire Malik Oussekine|Malik Oussekine case. Claude Sérillon would wait 11 years to return to the same post in August 1998 when he replaced Daniel Bilalian.
During the 1992 Winter Olympics, in Albertville, he hosted some "talk shows" with Daniel Cazal on the temporary Euro HD channel, set up by the :fr:Organisme de radio télévision olympique 92|l'ORTO 92.
However, he remained true to Antenne 2 during his lean years and worked on several broadcasts of reports and debates, which were called :fr:L'Édition spéciale Édition spéciale|Place publique , Raison de plus or :fr:Géopolis |Géopolis. He also copresented for ten years :fr:Téléthon en France|Telethon and :fr:Nuits des étoiles|Nuits des étoiles alongside Hubert Reeves. During one telethon broadcast, while interviewing Michel Boujenah who was telling incredible stories, Claude Sérillon became known for a very crazy laugh.

France 2

17 August 1998, he took the reins of 20 heures on France 2, where he then proposed a revamped news journal show, but the ratings were nevertheless lower than those of channel 1.
On 13 September 1999, true to his reputation for independence, he made an interview without concession of Lionel Jospin then Prime minister, which was severely criticized. With the Presidential campaign approaching, Sérillon, as in 1987, became an interviewer "boudé à gauche et peu apprécié à droite". On 12 July 2001 he stopped doing the news show, and, :fr:Olivier Mazerolle|Olivier Mazerolle, the new boss of news at the channel, retired Claude from the show. In September, he was replaced by David Pujadas, who had just left LCI.
Thereafter, he left France 2 and then found his full freedom of speech. In 2002, Patrick Chêne appealed to him for his revitalization project of the TV channel :fr:Santé Vie|Santé Vie but this channel stopped transmitting a year later.
From 2007 to 2012 he was part of the team of Michel Drucker as a columnist in the second part of the show :fr:Vivement dimanche prochain|Vivement dimanche prochain on France 2 to present on the latest films and literary events. He left the show, declaring in September 2012 that he wanted to spend his time on new projects.
Since 2007, he has co-presented the weekly political show :fr:Ôtrement dit|Ôtrement dit broadcast on France Ô and on radio and television at RFO in the Overseas departments with Dominique Roederer.

The 2010s

In he publicly announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Public Sénat parliamentary channel. He thus found himself facing :fr:Pierre Sled|Pierre Sled, :fr:Thierry Guerrier|Thierry Guerrier, :fr:Gilles Leclerc |Gilles Leclerc and Ghislain Achard. In the third round, he found himself against the candidate Gilles Leclerc, then head of the political department of writing at France 2. On 28 April, Gérard Larcher, Senate President, announced that there were now two candidates for the presidency of Public Sénat. After a long selection process began early in March, led by a selection committee of the Senate, Gilles Leclerc was finally named President of the parliamentary channel Public Senat on 29 April 2009 by Gérard Larcher.
Claude Sérillon became part of the communications team of Francois Hollande,. On 3 January 2013, Claude was named :fr:Conseiller en communication|advisor to the President of the Republic, to strengthen the communication service of the Elysee, qualified as a spin doctor of l'Élysée by the media. In early February 2014, his mission evolved and became focused on the Elysee website. On 10 June 2014, Le Monde and Europe 1 announced the end of his mission serving the head of state. His resignation became effective 16 July of the same year.

Programs presented

Television presenter