Faïza Younsi (EDHEC Master 2001), economic journalist on BFM Business

Faïza Younsi was very quickly taken in by the world of economics, and so seeking out an education in a business school was a natural choice. Her early career as an auditor upon leaving EDHEC Business School gradually became a life devoted to objectivity and informing people. Working with M6, France 24 and France 3 on programmes and news broadcasts simply confirmed her early love for this area. She has been presenting the evening news on BFM Business – the only TV station that specialises in business – for more than two years, and in this interview she tells us about her position as a privileged witness of the transformations affecting business today, as well as perceptions of the media in France.

How would you summarise your current position and responsibilities?

I present the five evening news bulletins on BFM Business. This involves lengthy searches for information from news agencies as well as reading the press and dispatches. I also take part in a discussion group with our reporters and editors, which allows us to sketch out the structure of my news bulletins and keep viewers abreast of the latest business news.

What’s the recipe for a successful news bulletin?

First of all, we try to make sure that all the most important topics are properly covered, with the right sources and the right contributors. There are also less “visible” topics that we cover to make sure we address all aspects of economic life. We also cover the latest company news such as fundraising campaigns, whether for a start-up that is becoming a unicorn or projects on a smaller scale but with strong economic potential. For example, a few weeks ago we spoke about MaaT Pharma, a pioneering start-up in the world of intestinal microbiota. In any case, there is never any partisan stance, just topics that attract our attention more than others, but it doesn’t change the way we cover them. 

How do you choose your topics?

In editorial meetings, the work is really a collective effort. The reporters have already prepared their story or prepare it in the evening and are really up to speed in their area. I work closely with these specialists, who necessarily have a clear perspective on their field. I try to have one too, but I have to maintain a very broad overview. It’s always a bit frustrating to have to choose and not be able to say everything, especially about businesses with inspirational or positive projects. There is great complementarity between us, a program called Tech & Co and Le Grand Journal de l’Éco, so sometimes we share stories. I know in advance the list of guests and subjects to be covered, and sometimes my bulletins reflect what goes on in the programme. For the news, each evening we keep the most important reports and spread out the less essential items over several bulletins. We always prepare several reports in advance, even though we sometimes don’t have enough time to include them. The story about Bansky’s [NDLR a street artist] Girl With Balloon, whose initial price soared once the piece self-destructed, is the kind of light-hearted news story we include at the end of a bulletin, having discussed more serious issues first. It’s also amusing to see that the art market follows its own logic.

What’s the target audience for BFM Business?

What I like about our news bulletins is that we reach out to everybody: people heavily involved in the economy – bosses, business owners or experts – as well as anyone who takes an interest, wants to invest or is simply looking for an angle that is different to mainstream news outlets. The business news refers to many things, including today’s changing society. Everyone is interested in the economy in one way or another. What is specific about being a business journalist is having to be flexible enough to generate enough interest among well-informed viewers while not overlooking people who just take a passing interest.

So what’s the right tone to strike?

You need to make everything accessible, but with a core target that is very involved in the business world. At the same time, I would say that people who take an interest in the economy have good general knowledge of the business world. Topics that are a bit more cutting-edge demand more research to cover them properly. For the bulletins, in a report or for the news in brief, you have to avoid resorting to specialist jargon as well as being overly simplistic, otherwise you lose all your audiences. And ultimately, someone who is interested will get their information elsewhere. I’m really not from a background where people were familiar with the business world. I adored economics, which drove me to do the studies I did. It would be a shame to push to one side everyone who has an interest in it and whom we might be able to encourage in that direction. 

Can your coverage of business news make companies aware of the transformations they must undertake? 

Yes, absolutely. We regularly talk about the automobile and pharmaceutical sectors, which are seeing rapid changes. I think that if you work in those sectors and see what others are currently doing, you’ll realise that it’s in your interest to do the same. In the news bulletins, we don’t just discuss the market share of automobile businesses, but also about today’s investments in electrification. These are business actors who may have very important benchmarks and understand the direction the sector is moving in. It’s like Bitcoin, a phenomenon that is gathering pace and is now so strong that all the currencies in the world are trying to dematerialise. The economy tells us about the kind of world and society we want. These topics also give us a clear picture of what happened in a year and a half of Covid, through the eyes of an observer who was not directly involved. As a journalist I’m impressed to see the gaps between companies widening at an astonishing pace, whatever their size. Some make good and manage to transform where others fail. It’s not just a question of money: it’s also about survival and agility, recruitment and innovation. The automobile industry was forced to do in one year what it had planned to do in 10, in terms of developing electric and hybrid vehicles. Look how fast we managed to develop vaccines and get them on the market. Everything gathered pace, and the predicted transitions took place out of necessity.

Despite its reputation, does BFM Business still have to defend itself against the view that its information is unreliable? 

In a way, working on the economy protects us from that and removes us from a whole range of debates because our targets are companies. BFM Business has a business-oriented identity and so it has had a very loyal audience since BFM was only a radio station. It’s easy for us to defend our identity, our heritage and our values. Whether or not one agrees with what’s going on, there’s always room for discussion. We are sometimes criticized on social media by people who think it’s not “real” news. It’s quite rare, but in any case there is mistrust in relation to the news, whatever it is. We are objective, there isn’t really any debate about that. The media in general shouldn’t assert or defend anything. There’s always an editorial angle, however. In Le Figaro, news isn’t covered in the same way as in L'Humanité, but it’s still journalism. Almost all media outlets have fact-checking units to prove the accusations made against them wrong, but even still, someone who doesn’t want to believe the mainstream media won’t believe what they hear and will get their information on other websites where the contributors aren’t necessarily journalists. It’s all the more dangerous since I’m not sure it’s even possible to have a dialogue. I’ve been told: “You journalists don’t always tell us the whole story”. Why would we hide information? Even if we did, others would talk about.

I get the impression that when it comes to generating news, there’s a really huge gap between us and the general public. Not everyone necessarily knows what a press pass implies, or understands the way we cover the news. We provide information that comes from reliable sources, it’s not just an idea or an opinion. On some topics, ideas can be debated, but that’s different, it’s not news. Those who want to stay informed nowadays perhaps do so differently, or mistrust the media to such an extent that they don’t even want to know how we prepare our news bulletins. And when we’re attacked on Twitter, it’s difficult to try to convince people or engage in a discussion or process of reflection in just 280 characters. Answering them can actually fuel the hatred; some points of view are simply irreconcilable.