Animer à deux un débat électoral: l'exemple du duel Royal-Sarkozy (2 mai 2007)

Having been given, together with Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, the responsibility of hosting and moderating the TV debate held in 2007 between the first and second ballot of the French presidential election, with Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy confronting each other, Arlette Chabot confessed that what she experienced then was something of a "nightmare", being treated like a "figurehead". We shall try to find out what such a feeling of frustration arose from, by looking into the nature of the particular tasks – mainly organizational – pertaining to the two hosts during the debate. We shall focus more particularly on the way Arlette Chabot proceeded, and how her intervening remarks were treated by the debaters. Finally we shall examine the power relationships set up between the two hosts while this very particular communication event was in progress.