France Télévisions and Radio France are now turning to justice. The two public broadcasting companies seized the commercial court, in the week of November 10, for defamation which constitutes unfair competition against CNews, Europe 1 and Sunday Journal − information disclosed by Le Figarowhich was confirmed by both groups.
The project has been underway since, in September, criticism from Bolloré’s media group poured in continuously, for several days, with extraordinary intensity. The broadcast, by right-wing online media Wrongfrom a stolen video showing two public broadcasting journalists having a private conversation with two Socialist Party (PS) officials was the trigger.
On CNews, presenter Pascal Praud in particular admitted to having been in a “culture battle”. By adopting a legal response in the commercial field, France Télévisions and Radio France demonstrated pragmatism. Both companies seem to remind us that in addition to promoting an ideological project, the Bolloré group’s media also has an economic interest in denigrating fellow members of society. In fact, the news channel CNews is a direct competitor of Franceinfo (television), and Europe 1, a public radio station, a direct competitor of France Inter.
“Outrageous character”
In an open letter addressed in September to the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communications (Arcom), Delphine Ernotte, president of France Télévisions, and Sibyle Veil, president of Radio France, condemned a “smear campaign”. “The nature of this campaign is outrageous and unbalancedit was written in the post, This is now more than just a debate of opinions: it contributes to weakening trust in public service information, relativizing responsibility in providing information – which requires honesty and thoroughness – and, in so doing, weakening the quality of democratic debate. » Arcom had treated this question as a reference, before changing its mind, as this question was not formally formulated.
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