David Pujadas

David Pujadas
David Pujadas at Salon du Livre in Paris (2009)
Born	(1964-12-02) December 2, 1964 Barcelona, Spain
Notable credit(s)	Le 20 Heures, France 2, Les Infiltrés on France 2
Spouse(s)	Ingrid Pujadas

David Pujadas (French: [da.vid py.ʒa.das], Spanish: [daˈβið puˈxaðas], Catalan: [dəˈvit puˈʒaðəs]) was born in Barcelona (Catalonia), Spain, on December 2, 1964, to a Spanish father and a French mother.

A former news broadcaster for TF1's LCI, he now is an anchorman on France 2's weeknight newscast, Le Journal de 20 Heures, at 20:00 CET in Metropolitan France. He has anchored these newscasts since September 2001, when he replaced Claude Sérillon, on orders from Olivier Mazerolle, the new France 2 news director.

The newscasts Pujadas presents are repeated in Canada on TV5 Monde weeknights at 6:30 North American Eastern Time,^[1] and in Australia on SBS at 9:20 weekday mornings.

In Metropolitan France, the audience for France 2's flagship evening newscast, at 20%, is less than the 26% audience share garnered by Laurence Ferrari's TF1 evening newscast ^[2]

David Pujadas has gone to the middle East for interviews of the Iranian and Syrian Presidents.

Biography

Graduate of the University of Aix-Marseille and the Institut d'études politiques (IEP), David Pujadas entered Paris's Centre for Journalist Training (CFJ) in 1988.

Winner of a reporters' contest conducted by Télévision Française 1 (TF1), he became a foreign correspondent there, covering most notably the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania in 1989, the Gulf War in 1991, and the siege of Sarajevo in 1992. He also presented the morning news and the 23:00 news during holidays of the regular presenters between 1992 and 1993.

At the same time, from 1990 to 1994, he carried out research for Charles Villeneuve's investigative magazine "Le droit de savoir".

At the end of June 1994, he joined LCI, TF1's new continuous news channel, where he presented newscasts regularly. Starting in September 1996 he handled the presentation of "Le Grand Journal" from 18:00 to 19:00. He also created the weekly magazine "100% politique".

In September 2001, he replaced Claude Sérillon as presenter of France 2's 20:00 news at the request of the new news director Olivier Mazerolle. Despite a scandalous beginning when he was filmed shouting "Wahou génial !" while watching the first images of the Twin towers on 09/11, this edition's audience has increased since its inception but remains below that of Patrick Poivre d'Arvor on TF1: 25% vs. 40% market share. [ref. necessary]

On February 3, 2004, Pujadas announced in the opening of his news programme Alain Juppé's official withdrawal from political life, while at the same moment Juppé stated at the end of a long interview on the TF1 show that he would give up his mandates over the course of the next year. Pujadas made his apologies for this error in the edition of the following day, but two days later, following a vote of no confidence by the channel's directors, he was sanctioned with two weeks of forced vacation during which he was replaced by his stand-in, Carole Gaessler. On February 11, 2004, Olivier Mazerolle tendered his resignation and was replaced by Arlette Chabot as head editor of France 2.

During the 2005–2006 season, Pujadas presented "Le Contrat", a monthly political interview on the Parliamentary Channel. He has hosted "Madame, Monsieur, bonsoir" weekly with Herve Chabalier on France 5 since February 2006.

During the 2012 French presidential election, he presented Des paroles et des actes (Words and Deeds), a broadcast in which candidates were confronted to their public image, their economic program, their possible strategies for campaign and to an opposition politician. He have also co-presented with Laurence Ferrari the televised debate between François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkosy. Des paroles et des actes continues to be broadcast.

David Pujadas is member of the think tank Le Siècle.^[3]

References