“Synergies” is the key word for the future reform of public broadcasting desired by the government and by Emmanuel Macron, since his first mandate in 2017. If the former Minister of Culture Franck Riester agrees was hitched, obtaining in 2020 the end of the TV license which until then financed public broadcasting, it was stopped dead by the health crisis linked to Covid-19.
The file is now about to be reopened since the deputies will examine on May 23 and 24 a text of law, already adopted in the Senate a year ago, concerning “the reform of public broadcasting and audiovisual sovereignty” .
Horizon 2026
The text, carried by Val-de-Marne senator Laurent Lafon (UDI), provides for the merger of France Télévision, Radio France, France Médias Monde and the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) under a single holding company named France Médias. The entity would be managed by a director appointed by presidential decree after an advisory opinion from Arcom, the audiovisual watchdog.
The subject of the parliamentary debates will concern, “initially, the holding company”, explained Renaissance MP Quentin Bataillon, rapporteur for the information mission on the future of public broadcasting, at France Info. The parliamentarian also recalled that the executive wanted a merger “in 2026”.
Rachida Dati at the helm
The timetable has accelerated since Rachida Dati was given the Culture portfolio in January 2024. The mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris has made it a priority, as she summarized before the Senate culture committee: “Having single governance, merging, pushing for cooperation, synergies, this is an objective that we must all have. »
This acceleration surprised employees and union representatives of public media. But also Laurent Lafon, who criticizes the eagerness of the new minister in the columns of Telerama : “This is totally unrealistic and could block all positive progress. Let’s wait and see how the setting up of the holding company goes before considering what happens next. »
The presidency of Radio France in opposition
The cultural weekly also argues that Sibyle Veil, president and director of Radio France, who must manage the revolt of her journalists after the dismissal of columnist Guillaume Meurice, is against the merger project, but in favor of cooperation. Regarding cooperation, the radio and television editorial teams have already been collaborating within France Info since 2016. And, since 2022, the juxtaposition of the local branches of France Bleu with the channels of France 3 Régions has been underway, under the name ” Here”, even if the France 3 brand should remain. Unlike that of France Bleu.
Towards a massive strike
At Radio France, we are afraid of the phagocytosis of television. “No to the holding company! No to all forms of fusion! », Proclaim the unions of the Round House. “That would kill us,” because the specificity of radio, which is its strength, would disappear, according to a manager. At France Médias Monde, which notably manages France 24, a channel broadcast in four languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, English) throughout the world, we also fear losing its particularity by being merged into a France Info which would become an international channel .
Unions from the four state-owned media companies have called a massive strike on May 23 and 24 to march in front of the National Assembly.