Political row as report calls for sweeping cuts to French public broadcasting

French politicians on the left and centre have criticised a parliament inquiry report that recommends sweeping cuts to public broadcasting, with a row over culture wars building before next year’s presidential election.State broadcasting is a key topic in the run-up to April’s vote, with the far right, which is leading in the polls, highly critical of public TV and radio and vowing to privatise it.Charles Alloncle of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) party, which is allied to Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), published a report on Tuesday after setting up a five-month parliament inquiry into the “neutrality, workings and financing” of public broadcasting, after far-right politicians claimed that state TV and radio were biased against them.Alloncle recommended that the French president should directly nominate the heads of public broadcasting, backed up by votes in parliament and the senate. He also suggested reducing the public broadcasting budget by 25%, merging several major channels, cutting youth broadcasting, cutting the gameshow and entertainment budget by 75%, and cutting the sport budget by 33%.Alloncle said that French state TV and radio is “ill-adapted to our era”, faces a financial crisis, has “lost touch with what French people want”, and must be completely reformed.But the report faced harsh criticism on the left and centre, after inquiry hearings were marred by heated rows and suspensions, with critics saying his questioning was factually incorrect and biased towards the far right. Alloncle denied this.Charles Alloncle set out his recommendations for public broadcasting at a news conference. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPAThe Socialist MP Ayda Hadizadeh, who sat on the inquiry panel, said during the hearings that the process had turned into a “tribunal” by politicians who wanted “to kill public broadcasting”. RN MP Anne Sicard said her party was “treated like the enemy” by the state broadcaster. Meanwhile, Le Pen praised the parliament inquiry, and said it had “shone a light” on what she called public broadcasting’s “downward spiral, misguided financial management and multiple attacks on political neutrality”.The public broadcaster France-tlvisions" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="47656" data-entity-type="organization">France Télévisions, which includes four national TV channels and 24 regional channels, is a key financier of films, drama and documentaries, as well as the country’s top media outlet. France" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="51519" data-entity-type="organization">Radio France has several national and local stations and dominates podcasting. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been critical of the public broadcaster in the past and scrapped the TV licence fee in 2022, while a long-term funding model is yet to be defined.Jordan Bardella, RN’s party president and a potential presidential candidate, has reiterated that his party “would begin a process of privatisation” if it wins the next election.The government is not obliged to adopt the recommendations in Alloncle’s report. The prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said reform was necessary but brushed aside the report as a “missed opportunity”.The head of France-tlvisions" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="47656" data-entity-type="organization">France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte, who gave evidence in the hearings, said the report was a biased “ideological reading of the public service”, and its recommendations would lead to a historic weakening of public broadcasting.The centre-right MP, Jérémie Patrier-Leitus, who served as president of the inquiry hearings, said Alloncle had been “dishonest” and his report served only to “prepare the mood” for the privatisation of state media sought by the far right. Alloncle denied this, saying his report stopped short of recommending privatisation.CNews, a channel owned by a Catholic conservative industrialist, is the most-watched news channel on French TV and is highly critical of the state broadcaster. Photograph: Abdul Saboor/ReutersAgnès Pannier-Runacher, an MP in Macron’s centrist party and a former minister, described the parliamentary inquiry as “shameful”. She said Alloncle’s main problem with state TV and radio “was that it was not sufficiently promoting the ideas of the far right”. She said this was an attack on media independence, like in Hungary under former prime minister Viktor Orbán or the US under Donald Trump.The backdrop to the inquiry is the rising dominance in France of the private media empire owned by the Catholic conservative industrialist Vincent Bolloré, which critics say is giving a platform to reactionary voices and boosting the rise of the far right. Bolloré’s CNews was the most-watched news channel on TV last year and is highly critical of the state broadcaster.This week, an NGO called AC !! Anti-Corruption filed a legal complaint in Paris, alleging that the media group Lagardère News, part of Bolloré’s empire, had tried to influence the inquiry by sending several MPs lists of questions hostile to public broadcasting. Alloncle denied receiving any questions or being influenced by external parties. Lagardère News has not commented publicly on the allegations.