Employees of the France Médias Monde group, which includes the France 24 channel and the RFI and Monte Carlo radio stations, France Télévisions and Radio France, have begun a massive strike that will continue on Thursday and Friday to protest against the bill to reform the public media.
French public broadcasting employees are currently on strike. The reason: a reform bill currently being examined by the Senate, soon to be submitted to the National Assembly.
The workers are protesting vigorously against the government’s proposed megastructure to merge Radio France and France Télévisions.
The government’s plan is to create a holding company grouping together all France Télévisions channels (France 2, France 3, etc.) as well as all Radio France stations, and potentially even international channels such as France 24 and RFI.
In all, 16,000 employees could be brought together under the France Médias entity, a sort of French version of the BBC or a modernized ORTF.
According to Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who is steering this reform at a steady pace, the aim is to consolidate forces to better compete with American giants like Netflix, reports RTL.
The Minister aims to establish this holding company as early as January 2025, followed by a full merger in 2026. However, the unions denounce this project as a forced marriage.
They consider it demagogic, inefficient and dangerous, threatening the diversity of information.
Despite the Minister’s assurances on funding, the strikers fear that the merger is merely a pretext for making savings.
