Boulogne-Billancourt, 3 June, 2020. As the lockdown was progressively lifted across France, TF1 head office became home to a totally reorganized News department galvanized by the pandemic. Since March, all departments involved in producing news broadcasts on TF1 and LCI, or supplying content to the digital platforms, had had to work in new ways and at an infernal pace. The control rooms, where there are usually 20 or so people, had been operating with slightly fewer technicians. The presenters had to learn how to put on their microphones themselves, and studio operations had been simplified, including the use of one fewer camera.
Despite having only 30% of the personnel present at headquarters at the peak of the lockdown, news teams nevertheless managed to air programmes that were, on average, twice as long as normal. Computer graphics designers and video editors continued to make and edit the visuals for the programmes....but from home, for the first time ever in TF1’s history.