“Absurd and incomprehensible” to replace France 24 with franceinfo, denounce the journalists of the international channel

The statements of Renaissance MP Quentin Bataillon “reveal an obvious misunderstanding of the specificities and challenges of external public broadcasting”, denounces the CFTC.

Are France 24’s days numbered? Guest of franceinfo Monday May 13, Renaissance MP Quentin Bataillon wishes “qeu franceinfo [TV, canal 27] can be pushed to the international level to possibly replace France 24“.”I think that Franceinfo, television and radio, must be strengthened, and I think that this channel [TV, canal 27] would today have its place internationally“, explains the elected official. He plays a leading role in the reform of public broadcasting.

“I think that Franceinfo, on the television side, still has a lot of things to do. This reform will bring significant synergies, in particular to strengthen franceinfo. I also bear the fact that franceinfo [TV] can join channel 14 of TNT, so that it can be reinforced“, he adds. The continuous news channel would take the place of France 4 and would be placed ahead of its competitors, first and foremost BFMTV.

At France 24, management, the majority union, and the journalists’ society are on the same line. “‘Replace’ 4 news channels in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, designed for international audiences? Mr. Quentin Bataillon is to misunderstand our specificities. Fortunately, it is not the project of the State shareholder which measures the importance of France 24“, snaps its director, Vanessa Burggraf, on X. “Through the work and expertise of its journalists and correspondents, France 24 has established itself in 18 years in the global audiovisual landscape with 140 million viewers and Internet users every week on 5 continents. A reference !“, she adds in a second post on this subject.

“The CFTC of France Médias Monde expresses its indignation at the comments made by the MP“, she wrote in a draft press release sent to franceinfo. “These statements reveal an obvious misunderstanding of the specificities and challenges of external public broadcasting, in particular those of France 24“, adds the organization.

Strike notice

The reaction of the France 24 journalists’ society is similar. “We regret that certain political leaders seem to completely ignore the work of France 24, the work of an international channel which broadcasts in four languages, all over the world, with completely different audiences.“, explains its president, Shirli Sitbon, to France Culture. “It is a channel which, for almost twenty years, has shown its credibility. It has a network of correspondents everywhere. This is its strength, its independence too. Our listeners [téléspectateurs] are completely different from those of franceinfo. It’s absurd to think that we can replace that with a national chain, which will develop. For us it is incomprehensible“, she said again.

The objective of the public broadcasting reform project debated on May 23 and 24 in the Assembly “is initially, the holding“, confirms Quentin Bataillon. A structure to oversee its different entities”which foreshadows the merger in 2026“from France Télévisions, Radio France, Ina and France Médias Monde, namely RFI and France 24.”France Médias Monde has an extremely important role. We see it all the more today, given the geopolitical context, France’s voice in the world has its place and is important.“, continues the man who was rapporteur for the information mission on the future of public broadcasting.

The CFTC France Médias Monde indicates that “a strike notice will be filed to contest this project […]a prelude to potentially disastrous changes for France Médias Monde and the entire public broadcasting sector“.”We call on employees to prepare for a massive and general mobilization in order to defend the future of our media, weakened by political and accounting visions devoid of ambition and meaning.“, she adds. At France Télévisions and Radio France, the unions are calling for a strike on May 23 and 24.