“I see neither the usefulness nor the relevance of this merger”, denounces the former Minister of Culture Jacques Toubon

“I see neither the usefulness nor the relevance of this merger”, denounced, Monday May 13 on franceinfo, the former Minister of Culture between 1993 and 1995, Jacques Toubon, about the public broadcasting reform project, which will be examined on May 23 and 24 in the National Assembly.

Monday morning, on franceinfo, the rapporteur of the information mission on the future of public broadcasting Quentin Bataillon confirmed that the objective of the project was “initially, the holding company”a structure to oversee its different entities “which foreshadows the merger in 2026” of France Télévisions, Radio France, INA and France Médias monde, namely RFI and France 24.

“A real problem from the point of view of the general interest”

“I am in favor of radio and television remaining separate so that a strong public sector represents the general interest,” reacted Jacques Toubon. “I very much fear that in reality, all this will lead us to the point where radio, speech, discussion, dialectics, debates, end up being crushed by the power of the image.”

“We risk finding ourselves in a system where everything will depend on the strongest images”he continued, evoking “a real problem” to this reform “from the point of view of the general interest”. “I think we need to think about it and not jump in headlong.” “Any government that does not reform public broadcasting in one way or another feels dishonored,” he also denounced. “The merger is a way of carrying out a reform (…) Manipulating public broadcasting is part of the track record that a government must have.”