"80 years of Nice-Matin": Dominique Dabin in the era of the "three Ds"

They were called the "three Ds." Dabin, Daures, Delserre. Three iconic reporters who, in the Var region, flew the flag for Nice-Matin . The first of them ended his career as editor-in-chief... after being "fired" for indiscipline. He tells his story.

How did your vocation come about?

I don't know! [He laughs] At 14, I simply told my parents that I wanted to be a journalist. My father, a professor of German, took it badly; he had destined me for higher education. After my baccalaureate and a year of preparatory studies (1), I took the competitive exam for the Lille School of Journalism. I passed the written exam, but failed the oral exam. The examiner criticized me for being… badly seated in my chair! I was too "tense" , in a posture that was "not journalistic enough" . Astounded by so much stupidity, I gave up on re-applying.

What did you do?

The Press Attaché Training School (Efap) in Paris. I then accepted a job at the IUT in Tours, which allowed me to meet Pierre Archambault, co-founder of La Nouvelle République , then president of the National Union of Regional Daily Press (SPQR). He referred me to his vice-president, Michel Bavastro, CEO of Nice-Matin , who was looking to "rejuvenate his editorial staff" . That's how I arrived on the Côte d'Azur in 1969.

Did you start in Nice?

Yes. The first day, I was assigned to double duty at the court with Angelo Rinaldi. I arrived thirty minutes before the hearing began. At 9:00 a.m., no Rinaldi. Nor at 10:00 a.m. Nor at 11:00 a.m. At noon, I was starting to panic when I saw him burst in, in a perfumed pink shirt, a smile on his face. He chatted for five minutes with the clerk without taking any notes, then he dragged me to the Palace Bar. There, he knew everyone! In the afternoon, I went home to write my report—laboriously because I didn't know how to type. And the next day, I discovered the future academic's article in the newspaper: it was brilliant, flamboyant... brilliant! Whereas mine was flat and academic. The deputy editor, Guy Riffet, asked me: "Do you measure the gap between you? Do you think you can bridge it?" I had the nerve to answer "yes" to both questions. I spent a month at the headquarters, on Avenue Jean-Médecin, in an editorial office of sacred monsters: Maurice Huleu, Jean-Claude Vérots, Hélène Vuichard, Gérard Comboul, Mario Brun… They taught me everything.

Having been appointed, you were transferred to Cannes... where things were going less well?

Let's just say I was sent on uninteresting reports. So I didn't cover them and did other ones! [He laughs] I ended up being summoned by Michel Bavastro – the only person who ever impressed me at Nice-Matin . He gave me a dressing-down: "I'm transferring you to Hyères. I've informed your manager, who won't forgive you for any slip-ups!"

Did that calm you down?

[He smiles] Not really. I messed up a bit, blatantly neglecting the items on my roster. The branch manager, Daniel Thouvenot, explained to me that my attitude forced my colleagues to do my job: "Towards them, I'm obliged to give you a memo. But I don't want to break you. I won't send it to Nice, provided you understand that, if talent is individual, success is collective." Message received! A few months later, when his deputy was promoted to Sainte-Maxime, he asked me to replace him. And he burned the famous memo in front of me...

So you're rushing things...

In 1974, at the age of 27, I was appointed head of the Toulon agency. A strange position at the time, since there were very few Toulon local newspapers in Le Var - Nice-Matin . The west of the department was in the area of ​​influence of Var-matin République , which belonged to the mayor of Marseille, Gaston Defferre.

What were you covering then?

The prefecture, the general council [now the departmental council, Ed.] , politics and, of course, the news. The beginnings were complicated. It was a team of stars and very assertive personalities. Some old hands didn't accept being led by a "kid" . The departmental director, Rémy Daure, received phone calls: "Do you recruit your leaders in the cradle?"

You didn't doubt yourself?

Not at that time. Especially since things, in the end, settled down pretty quickly. One man taught me a lot: Jean-Pierre Mériadec. He was an incredible guy, a great reporter, friends with the cops as well as the crooks. He had a good nose; he "smelled" the news better than anyone.

You spent ten years in this position?

Yes. It's a lot... [He laughs] It took that long for Michel Bavastro to accept an idea I'd been defending for ages: creating a reporting unit in the Var. In 1984, finally, with Serge Delserre and Christian Daures, we got the green light. It was the beginning of a fantastic period, marked by the Maurice Arreckx (2) and Yann Piat (3) affairs, which lasted until the merger of the two newspapers in 1998.

How did you experience this merger?

At first, it was pretty bad. I even thought about leaving Nice-Matin . In the end, I stayed. I was appointed head of the Reporting department, then deputy director of the new Var-Matin alongside Patrick Andrieu. In July 2000, when the latter was appointed editorial director, I succeeded him.

As you did in 2003, when he was "thanked" by the CEO?

Michel Comboul contacted me in July 2003, two days before I left for vacation. He arranged to meet me at a restaurant in Les Arcs and told me I'd be replacing Patrick as soon as I got back. I wasn't a candidate at all! But Comboul insisted: "It's the kind of offer you can't refuse." So I took the job, and for several months, it was difficult. I expected to manage an editorial team; in fact, I was mostly there to deal with embarrassment.

Were you more fulfilled in your role as a senior reporter?

[He laughs] Undeniably.

You left Nice-Matin in 2008. If you had to keep just one memory from those thirty-six years?

I keep everything! I passionately loved this profession in all its aspects. [He smiles] There is no better observatory of the human soul.

1. Abolished in 1966, this training offered high school graduates a preparatory year before entering higher education. 2. Mayor of Toulon from 1959 to 1985, MP, senator and president of the Var general council, Arreckx was convicted of corruption.

3. The Var MP was assassinated on February 25, 1994 in Hyères.