This paper shows the infl uence of media coverage for the fate of heart transplantation in France. It argues that the media's support not only reinforced the graft's medical legitimacy, but also sustained the practice by mobilizing public support. Our study focuses on two peaks in media coverage. The fi rst took place in 1968/69, as the fi rst grafts in the world and in France were performed. The second occurred in 1973, when surgeries resumed in France following a four-year hiatus due to the mixed results of the early operations. French transplants were then largely covered on TV and in newspapers. We examine the reasons for these peaks in coverage and the underlying rationales of the alliance between French surgeons and journalists. Cross-analysis of TV and print productions sheds light on the media devices used to enlist the general public's moral support. It shows that state television proved an effective platform for doctors, allowing for a different kind of storytelling than in newspapers. Television studies, science popularization, organ transplantation, France, heart transplant * This research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) "The healthy self as body capital (BodyCapital)" project under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 694817). We would like to thank the INA and its staff for making the archive descriptions and videos available to social scientists. This paper was translated from French by Jean-Yves Bart, with support from the Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l'Homme d'Alsace (MISHA) and the Excellence Initiative of the University of Strasbourg.