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This article aims to identify the conditions and logics of the remarkable longevity of the editorial writer Alain Duhamel in the French media landscape. One of the characteristics of his unusual career is how fast the budding columnist fitted into the written press’s subspace within political journalism. Bursting onto the scene right into a central role enabled him to acquire a multi-faceted position in the media field, including the written press, TV, and radio. Rapidly earning a reputation with the general public, mainly thanks to television, Duhamel also gained recognition in other domains. Establishing himself as an intermediary, both close and distant, for key political figures, in his essays and articles he is able to present the behind-the-scenes of the world that he observes in situ, thereby adopting the role of a modern court diarist. Setting himself up in this way, as a living memory of the Fifth Republic, Duhamel has turned himself into a journalistic brand, an off-road vehicle that moves according to the whim of media demand, sharing his powerful analyses in any available format, as a permanent guest of the media.