the creative community is concerned about the RN’s desire to privatize public broadcasting in the event of victory

The Union of Audiovisual Production, the Union of Directors and the Union of Cinema Producers (UPC) are among the organizations which recall in a forum that “no European country has risked privatization public broadcasting.

“National pride, public broadcasting, whose success is proven, is a pillar of our democracy and our culture”: 41 organizations representing the creative sector criticized Tuesday June 18 in a forum the “dangerous project” of privatization of public broadcasting supported by the National Rally. Party boss Jordan Bardella confirmed on Sunday that he wanted to privatize “term” public broadcasting if the RN comes to power at the end of the legislative elections, in order to “save money”.

In their column sent to the press, the organizations opposing this project believe that it “can directly destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs and an entire sector of the economy.” “Public television and radio are, among others, the first partners in a sector which has more than 300 000 employees”note the signatories, including the Union Syndicale de la Production Audiovisuelle (USPA), the association of animation producers AnimFrance, the Union of Directors (U2R), the Union of Cinema Producers (UPC) as well as as various unions.

“This is a public service which plays an essential role” And “offers free and universal access to information, cinema, live entertainment, major sporting events, reducing social inequalities”, underline these organizations, noting that“no European country has risked privatizing public broadcasting”.

According to them, “the RN, acting openly, proposes a measure which would leave an information and creation market subject only to private interests to the detriment of the search for truth, contradiction and the diversity of stories, in the absence of the counterweight of a strong and independent public audiovisual center”.

Privatization had already been advocated by Marine Le Pen in 2022. Sébastien Chenu, vice-president of the RN, judged in recent days that “public broadcasting no longer meets the criteria of neutrality” and is too expensive.

For her part, the current Minister of Culture Rachida Dati is leading a merger project of public audiovisual companies, in order to “gather strength”. “I am for strong public broadcasting, brought together in a very turbulent context where private groups are structuring and organizing themselves and in a context of strong disinformation. (…) I am not in favor of privatization“, she declared Tuesday June 18 on France Inter.