Pascal Vannier, born in 1952, spent most of his career at France Télévisions, after starting out in print media and radio. He worked at France’s national news desk, helping to create the 7:20 p.m. news programme, then in Normandy after a stint at Antenne 2.
A presenter and senior reporter, he is the author of numerous documentaries, notably on the events of the summer of 1944 in Normandy. L’été de la liberté (The Summer of Freedom) was broadcast four times nationally on France 3, France 2 and LCI (TF1).
After working on Thalassa, France’s magazine programme about the sea, he joined the team at Littoral, a weekly programme on France Ouest, produced in Rennes, Brittany. In charge of special programmes for France 3 Normandie, Pascal Vannier is involved in several projects for the Caen Memorial, thanks in particular to Stéphane Grimaldi, its former director. The Cité de la Mer in
Cherbourg called on his services to produce several films.
With photographer Olivier Mériel, a champion of black and white film photography, he co-wrote a book on the Channel Islands archipelago for the Musée de Normandie. Two other books related to his favorite region have been published by Éditions Ouest-France.
In 2023, he curated the exhibition for the 30th Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Prize for War Correspondents, L’Autre débarquement (The Other Landing). The exhibition was dedicated to war reporters covering the three months of the Battle of Normandy, and was followed by the recent publication of a book.
His meeting with the incomparable Ed Vulliamy led to a joint article on the bombings and civilian casualties of the Battle of Normandy, published in May 2024 in the New York Review of Books.
Pascal Vannier lives near Bayeux, in Normandy.
