French radio journalists strike in protest over plans to merge with ‘France’s Fox News’

Billionaire Vincent Bolloré's bid to shake up the French news media by catering to conservative and right-wing voters is facing resistance from journalists at his next target, one of the country's biggest private radio stations.

Published: 23 June 2021 14:58 CEST

French radio journalists strike in protest over plans to merge with 'France's Fox News'

Outside the Paris building that is home to Europe 1 radio and a number of other media outlets. Photo: Philippe Lopez | AFP)

Employees at Europe 1 have been on strike since Friday as fears simmer about efforts to shift the station’s editorial line under pressure from Bollore.

Underlying the turbulence are moves to bring Europe 1 together with CNews, a rolling TV news channel launched in 2017 by Bolloré’s media group that critics have likened to Fox News in the United States.

“Day after day, the station seems to align itself a bit more with the output of CNews,” a column published at the weekend by Europe 1 journalists and union representatives said.

Writing in Le Monde newspaper, they described CNews editorial stance as “strongly anchored to the right, even at times to the far right” and warned that Europe 1 risked losing, “what is most precious: its credibility among listeners.”

Last month, management at the radio station confirmed plans for the first time to create links between the two Bolloré-controlled companies, which will see more sharing of programming and on-air talent.

The tie-up is seen as being driven by commercial logic – struggling Europe 1 has been shedding listeners for years, while CNews with its raft of celebrity presenters is going from strength to strength.

But the possible political consequences of a closely linked radio and TV operation have not been missed by President Emmanuel Macron, who is said to be monitoring events closely ahead of presidential elections next year.

“If in the future Bollore does exactly what he wants with Europe 1, and does the same thing as he did at CNews, clearly that gives him colossal (political) firepower,” said David Medioni, head of a Media Observatory at the Jean-Jaures Foundation, a left-leaning think-tank.

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France has in recent weeks been shaken by a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party has accused Attal of not doing enough on security as the anti-immigration party soars ahead of the government coalition in polls for the June 9th election.

Speaking in Viry-Chatillon, the town where Shemseddine was killed, Attal condemned the “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”, calling for “a real surge of authority… to curb violence”.

“There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault cases, four times more in drug trafficking, and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population,” he said.

Measures will include expanding compulsory school attendance to all the days of the week from 8am to 6pm for children of collège age (11 to 15).

“In the day the place to be is at school, to work and to learn,” said Attal, who was also marking 100 days in office since being appointed in January by President Emmanuel Macron to turn round the government’s fortunes.

Parents needed to take more responsibility, said Attal, warning that particularly disruptive children would have sanctions marked on their final grades.

OPINION: No, France is not suffering an unprecedented wave of violence

Promoting an old-fashioned back-to-basics approach to school authority, he said “You break something – you repair it. You make a mess – you clear it up. And if you disobey – we teach you respect.”

Attal also floated the possibility of children in exceptional cases being denied the right to special treatment on account of their minority in legal cases.

Thus 16-year-olds could be forced to immediately appear in court after violations “like adults”, he said. In France, the age of majority is 18, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Macron and Attal face an uphill struggle to reverse the tide ahead of the European elections. Current polls point to the risk of a major debacle that would overshadow the rest of the president’s second mandate up to 2027.

A poll this week by Ifop-Fiducial showed the RN on 32.5 percent with the government coalition way behind on 18 percent.