Cèze Cévennes News, the link between the districts of the Cévennes

INTERVIEW WITH ALI MAHFICHE, managing editor

Hello Ali,

I'm delighted to welcome you to the blog. First of all, can you tell us how Cèze Cévennes News came about? Does this work of journalism come alongside your professional activity or do you devote 100% of your time to it?

In 2016, I created the Facebook group ‘Les Saint-Ambroisiens et ceux qui aiment Saint Ambroix’ to promote my district. Given the growing demand, we (the administrators) decided to open up this group to all the communes in the Cèze Cévennes community of districts, to enable residents to share local information.

At the same time, with my journalist and writer friend Roselyne Cusset, we launched the Facebook page ‘Cèze Cévennes News’ to provide verified information about our region. Roselyne then left the venture for personal reasons... I then took the initiative of buying a domain name and creating the website myself - a first for me. Today, this site, which I manage on a voluntary basis, continues to inform our fellow citizens and promote local life.

Every day, I take a moment from my office in Saint-Ambroix to write one or two articles to share the latest news and important information about our region.

Céze Cévennes News, a different, more positive take on local life

So the creation of Cèze Cévennes News meets a need for additional, different information from the region's residents, doesn't it?

In fact, the creation of Céze Cévennes News was prompted by the lack of communication from certain districts about local events and news. All too often, in certain local newspapers, our districts are only mentioned in the local news. But even if there are news stories, as there are everywhere, that's not all there is to our region.

We want to provide information that is as close as possible to the people who live here, and above all, as fast as possible. The aim of Céze Cévennes News is therefore to offer a different and more positive view of local life, in the hope of providing a fair and enriching perspective on our region.

Rich and varied themes

You'll be running and managing Peacock prod, a communications agency specialising in video coverage of events and social media management, as well as being the sole editor of Cèze Cévennes News. On a daily basis, your articles cover a wide range of topics, including the local economy, local produce, health, entertainment, heritage, nature and ecology... You're the only one in charge?

Yes, I'm the creator and sole manager of Céze Cévennes News. And there's no shortage of work, I can assure you, because between researching subjects, interviews, travelling and, of course, writing content, there's not always enough time.

How do you choose your subjects and what do you want to convey through your articles?

As part of my work with Peacock Prod, I produce coverage for a number of local authorities, which means I have to travel around the region a lot. I take the opportunity to take photos and gather information on the spot.

A lot of organisers and associations also send me information. The aim of the site is to offer verified information and to highlight the positive aspects of the local area.

A dynamic local partnership

You work ‘closely with the local councils and towns in the Cévennes’, as do certain ‘towns outside the Cèze Cévennes that distribute your content, such as Saint-Paul-le-Jeune, Banne, Aubenas and others’. Have you set up any partnerships with local players?

Yes, that's also the aim of Cèze Cévennes News, to create a network of tourist and cultural partners. We recently signed an agreement with La Maison de l'Eau, the theatre in Allègre-les-Fumades, which allows us to open the pages of Céze Cévennes News to their programme. This means they can advertise their forthcoming shows and share their programme with our audience.

What about your upcoming projects

What are your plans for the future of Cèze Cévenne News? Perhaps a move into print media? Remember that you already have a presence on Instagram...

Moving into the print media is not one of our current projects. Our priority at the moment is to expand the team and increase our visibility.  We're already getting between 210,000 and 280,000 hits a month.

Once we've built up a structured team, with sections dedicated to culture, politics, news, etc., we can envisage launching the site as a real media outlet and business in its own right.

Would you like to add a detail or comment?

We have lots of projects in mind and hope to have the time and energy to bring them to fruition!

Many thanks to Ali Mahfiche for his contribution to UzEssentiel.

The right address: Cèze Cévennes News. Also on Instagram. Contact: mahfiche@peacockprod.com.