His face marked the world of information. Paul Amar celebrates his birthday this Thursday, January 11, 2024. Aged 74, the journalist from Constantine, Algeria, has had a long media career, working for numerous editorial offices over the years.
Diploma in hand upon leaving the Journalist Training Center in 1971, Paul Amar began his career at France Inter. He was then the foreign correspondent for the radio, between Cambodia and the United States. At the end of the decade, he worked as a senior reporter for the Antenne 2 channel before becoming head of the political department in 1983.
At the beginning of the 1990s, journalist Paul Amar landed the presentation of 19/20, the evening news on FR3. Before being tenured as presenter of 20 Heures on France 2. The man who shares his seat with Bruno Masure also hosts numerous television debates, bringing together millions of viewers.
Like this June 1, 1994 when Paul Amar refereed the duel between Jean-Marie Le Pen and Bernard Tapie during a debate preceding the European elections. During this lively exchange between the president of the National Front and the businessman, the presenter offers them boxing gloves to fight each other. “You never know, if things go wrong, we want to avoid trauma or blows,” he said in a humorous tone. Which was not to the taste of the former MP and Minister of the City, who died in October 2021.
After his media exit, Paul Amar lost his position on Antenne 2 and hosted his last television news in July 1994. Several years later, the ex-presenter returned to this episode on RTL in December 2020. Guest of Éric Dussart in On TV again, the journalist would have been forced to pilot this debate in “kamikaze mode”.
As for his happening with the red boxing gloves, Paul Amar believes that “it was to remind people of the rules of the art: no low blows”. A gesture which will cost him his place at the head of the 20 Hours. “I resigned the same morning,” he told RTL. Since his ouster, the host has bounced around on other channels such as Paris Première, TF1, France 5, i24News and RCJ radio.
Discreet about his private life, this father and distant cousin of singer Enrico Macias explains the reasons for such discretion. “I have always compartmentalized my private life and my public life very strictly,” before clarifying to the radio host. “I have always lived normally, resisting the devastating effects of notoriety. Some of my colleagues have sometimes confused screen and mirror.”
