BERLIN (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron, accused by critics of being out of touch with ordinary people, denied in an interview with a German magazine he was aloof, saying that he was merely trying to stamp out cronyism between politicians and the media. The 39-year-old former banker was caught on video earlier this month saying during a visit to a struggling company that workers protesting his economic policies would do better to get a job in a nearby aluminum factory battling to find employees. That prompted the far-left and far-right, who have sought to cast Macron as out of touch with the common man and a president for the rich, to say he had shown  contempt . But Macron told Germany s Der Spiegel:  I am not aloof. When I travel through the country, when I visit a factory, my staff tell me after three hours that I am ruining the schedule.  He added:  When I am with French people, I am not aloof because I belong to them.  Macron said being surrounded by journalists was not akin with being close to the people, adding:  A president should keep the media at arm s length.  He has said he planned a  Jupiterian  presidency - dignified and weighing his pronouncements carefully - a departure from his often-mocked predecessor Francois Hollande s man-of-the-people style. Macron said on Friday in a surprise move that he would give his first long live TV interview on Sunday evening. 
Macron, cast as out of touch, says "not aloof"