It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Paul Fels, former editor-in-chief at RFI, which occurred on Tuesday April 25 at the age of 83.
Paul Fels was a great journalist, but also a great teacher, who transmitted his passion to thousands of African colleagues.
Born in 1940, a former student of the Journalists’ Training Center (CFJ), he joined Ocora, the Radio Cooperation Office, the ancestor of RFI, in the early 1960s. Then he participated in the creation of RFI. He is then an all-terrain reporter. At the end of the 1970s, he made his first foray into teaching at the IFP, the French Press Institute. In 1981, back at RFI, he assisted Hervé Bourges in the development of world radio. In 1983, he moved to Valence, in the south-east of France, where he created Radio France Drôme. In 1987, he returned to RFI until 1998 as editor-in-chief, notably at the head of the Africa branch and the written press agency MFI. At the same time, he teaches in many journalism schools, at CESTI in Dakar, ESIJY in Yaoundé and ESJ in Lille.
In the 2000s, he went to Madagascar, where he organized a training circuit for journalists in the most remote radio stations on the Big Island, with a traveling studio installed in a… 4L!
At the time of retirement, Paul Fels moved to Larnagol (Lot), in the south-west of France, where he was elected municipal councilor. Then, in recent years, he has become closer to his daughter, who lives in Le Havre. Since his death, all the testimonies underline his extreme kindness and his great professionalism. He was both brilliant and sassy.
Our hearts go out to his family, friends and all those who knew him.