More than a century ago, public broadcasting institutions were established, driven by three noble goals: to educate, to inform, and to entertain. In these same countries, between financial cuts and crises of legitimacy, these large organizations must redefine themselves, or even justify their existence. In this four-part series, The Duty portrays various public media in the United States and Europe. Today: France Bleu.
In the early 1980s, Radio France, a large government-owned company with multiple channels (France Musique, France Culture, France Inter, Radio France internationale), launched Radio Bleue, a network aimed at seniors. Twenty years later, the latter began a shift: its stations then intermingled with the local antennas of Radio France to become France Bleu. The objective: to offer the most comprehensive regional information possible. The network now has 44 stations across the country, and approximately 1,500 employees.
David Mall, editor-in-chief of France Bleu Touraine, offered his listeners the following definition of his media last year: “A radio station from the end of the world, and from the end of the street.” It suits Céline Pigalle, director of the France Bleu network, who took up her post in 2023. For this former journalist and editor-in-chief, this expresses “the ambition to go very far on French territory, and to serve all listeners, no matter where they are.”
Reached the day after the second round of the legislative elections (and a little before the Paris Olympic Games), Céline Pigalle gives a positive assessment of what France Bleu has accomplished during this feverish political spring. No one was ready for this major upheaval decreed by President Emmanuel Macron, but she is very satisfied with the energy deployed by the network. “No other media, apart from France 3 [une télévision publique au mandat similaire à celui de France Bleu]does not allow such proximity,” says the one who spent a large part of her career in private media such as Europe 1, Canal+ and BFM TV. “Each station presented a campaign news program every morning, and we tried to organize many debates with the candidates, even if several from the National Rally declined our invitations, for all sorts of reasons…”
Franck Bousquet, professor of communication at the University of Toulouse III–Paul-Sabatier, recognizes the efforts of France Bleu and France 3. However, according to this attentive observer of the evolution of local information in France, during election periods as well as in times of crisis (that of the Yellow Vests or migrants), these two networks do not necessarily always have the means to achieve their noble ambitions. And this, for several reasons.
“Their information is very ‘urban-centric’, unlike the work of journalists in the written press, who are present throughout the country,” laments the man who also studied for a master’s degree in cinema at Laval University in the 1980s. “The news from public media must not only be local, but have a certain national resonance, be interpreted in the light of something bigger. That said, there are still marked differences between the local station, France 3 Occitanie, and the others.”
In a country as centralized as France, Paris sets the pace in many areas, and public broadcasting is no exception. “This is not a new phenomenon,” acknowledges Professor Bousquet. “From the Ancien Régime to the Revolution to today, centralization has practically never changed. And the fact that the political system is a kind of constitutional monarchy only reinforces the phenomenon. Local elected officials are thus subservient to the Republic, and national information becomes a real steamroller.”
It’s happening… here
It’s not quite a revolution, but things are changing at France Bleu, changes that are increasingly “visible” to the 1,718,000 listeners who tune in every morning.
A process of convergence with France 3 had already begun well before the arrival of Céline Pigalle. In 2019, the simultaneous broadcasting of morning shows in the studios of some of the network’s channels had provoked the ire of employees, who considered the result to be questionable from a visual point of view and feared a takeover of the editorial line.
This rapprochement continues, and Céline Pigalle considers it essential because it is imposed by the accelerated transformations of the digital universe. “We are increasingly consumers of content in this universe, the competition is very tough, but we keep our promise of proximity to our listeners.” Gradually, France Bleu and France 3 are coming together under the name Ici — a three-letter word that, we will remember, caused a stir in Quebec in 2013, when the name of the Radio-Canada channels was changed.
All these transformations still raise concerns. Katell Uguen, who has worked for seven years at France Bleu Breizh Izel in Lower Brittany, is one of the skeptics. “I like France Bleu as much as France 3, but I fear that they mainly want to cut programs, jobs or languages,” says the journalist who speaks in Breton on her station.
Although she is not very enthusiastic about the presence of cameras in radio studios, deploring a form of voyeurism “focusing more on clothes and hairstyles than on information”, Mme Uguen notes the ever-growing appeal of the image. In the midst of these transformations, she hopes that the public broadcaster, whatever its official name, can give its artisans the means to reach citizens. And, in her case, to do so in Breton. Because if this language is less spoken than it was 100 years ago — or even 40 —, ceasing to use it would, according to the journalist, be an attack on the identity of the people in her part of the country.
Unite for information
“A reform solely to save money will result in impoverishing local information,” insists Professor Franck Bousquet, who is however far from being against the France Bleu-France 3 synergy. The latter will be beneficial if it allows each entity to maintain its resources while promoting exchanges, says the academic, especially during election periods, “when information accelerates and the issues become more important.”
Céline Pigalle is well aware of the turmoil within France Bleu, but continues to believe in “the addition of forces and its democratic relevance”. Although accustomed to the culture of private media, the director of the network believes that the world of public broadcasting is not so different. “All media are concerned with the question of audience, private media even more so since it determines advertising revenue. But the State does not want to finance media that no one watches or listens to”, she emphasizes. “The capacity to adapt is not the same, public media having a sense of the long term.”
And perhaps also a political sense? After heartbreaking legislative elections and the euphoria of the first Olympic days, France still seems without a real rudder. “In the end, it is the political world that decides, because we are a public media,” concedes Céline Pigalle. “At the moment, we are going through a vague period, and it is normal that things are a bit at a standstill.”
To find out about France Bleu’s programming and access its reports and podcasts: www.francebleu.fr