Élise Lucet (born 30 May 1963) is a French journalist and television host. Known for her investigative journalism work on shows such as Pièces à Conviction, Cash Investigation and Envoyé spécial, she has been dubbed France's "incorruptible journalist". In 2008, she was named Knight of the Legion of Honour. Lucet's work for Cash Investigation garnered her and her crew around twenty international awards including a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for their investigation on the Panama Papers.
Élise Lucet was born in Rouen, Seine-Maritime. Her father is a teacher and her mother a school director. She has a sister. Lucet began her career under Henri Sannier on the Caen affiliate of France 3 in 1983. She subsequently worked for Sygma TV and the public service radio station France Inter. In 1990, she became the host of the 19/20 evening news on France 3. In 1997, she became its lead editor.
As a writer and television producer, Lucet hosted Pièces à Conviction from 2000 until 2011. In 2005, she left 19/20 to host 13 heures le journal on France 2. In 2012, she began hosting Cash Investigation, an investigative television programme; she has also hosted Envoyé spécial since 2016.
Cash Investigation brought to light some controversies:
- In June 2012, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) sued France 2 to prevent broadcast of an interview of the NGO's management. The courts ruled in favour of France 2.
- In October 2013, the programme revealed that the Government of France had fined the training arm of gardening company Jardiland 3.2 million euros in September 2012, with regards to fraudulent transactions concerning hundreds of false training certificates issued between 2007 and 2011. The certificates allowed Jardiland to illegally receive subsidies from professional training organisations. Jardiland announced it would bring a defamation suit against France Télévisions, publicly accusing the Cash Investigation report of presenting false information. In April 2015, Jardiland withdrew its suit.
- In 2015, Rachida Dati criticised the broadcast for raising questions about a possible link between herself and the Engie corporation (formerly GDF-Suez).
- In 2015, Élise Lucet took part in a demonstration by the collective named "Informer n’est pas un délit" (English: Informing is not a crime) against a proposed French law about trade secrets, an amendment to the Loi pour la croissance, l'activité et l'égalité des chances économiques (Law for growth, activity and equality of economic opportunity), known as the "Loi Macron". She opposed the measure because it would hamper the production of broadcasts like Cash Investigation. A book was published in 2015. ...
Source: Article "Élise Lucet" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
