Paris
France broke a racial barrier this week when a black man anchored the prime-time news on the main commercial television channel. Harry Roselmack is filling in for channel TF1’s regular anchor, who’s on vacation until the end of August. French newspapers treated the event as a major milestone, describing Roselmack as “gorgeous,” “talented,” and “full-lipped, with the face of a pharaoh.” Smaller French channels have used black anchors in the past, but only during non-prime-time newscasts. TF1’s 8 p.m. newscast draws 9 million viewers every night, nearly half of the French viewing public. Roselmack tried to downplay the hoopla. “When I do interviews, I am neither black nor white, neither man nor woman,” he told Le Figaro. “I am a journalist.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Into the Woods: a ‘hypnotic’ productionThe Week Recommends Jordan Fein’s revival of the much-loved Stephen Sondheim musical is ‘sharp, propulsive and often very funny’
-
‘Let 2026 be a year of reckoning’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Why is Iran facing its biggest protests in years?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Iranians are taking to the streets as a growing movement of civic unrest threatens a fragile stability
