“I was extremely shocked.” That was how the communist Member of Parliament Marie-George Buffet opened the afternoon meeting of the National Assembly's cultural affairs committee on Tuesday December 5th. She was reacting to the expression which, according to L'Express magazine, President Emmanuel Macron had used the previous evening while speaking to MPs from his La République en Marche (LREM) party who sit on that committee. France's public broadcasting, the centrist president is supposed to have said, is a “disgrace to the Republic”.
Those words immediately sparked a row. On that same Tuesday afternoon the branch of the CGT trade union at the the public broadcaster France Télévisions was apoplectic over what it described as a “strategy of denigration which is part of a deliberate desire to commit economic vandalism and to take back political control of public broadcasting”. Confronted with the reaction, the Élysée quickly put out a 'formal' denial of the weekly news magazine's use of the phrase. MPs from LREM who were present at the meeting with Macron also sprang to the president's defence. “As president of the cultural affairs and education committee I can tell you that these were not the comments made by the president of the Republic,” Bruno Studer told Marie-George Buffet.
The controversy stemmed from a meeting at the Élysée on the evening of Monday 4th December when President Macron for the first time brought together MPs from his LREM party and their centrist allies MODEM who sit on the cultural affairs committee. This is something he has done with MPs from other committees in recent months. He spoke to them for more than an hour, giving his analysis and setting out his broad approach and ambitions for cultural issues and education in the future. “I'm not able to transcribe word for word what he said,” said Brunto Studer when questioned about the controversial phrase. However, the MP did in essence confirm that the words “disgrace” and “public broadcasting” had indeed been used, just not in the same sentence.
Then on Tuesday evening the weekly cultural magazine Télérama took upon itself the task of piecing together President' Macron's words, in a long article which contained what purported to be lengthy extracts from his speech. “Public broadcasting is a disgrace for our fellow citizens, it's a disgrace in terms of governance, it's a disgrace from what I've seen these last few weeks in the attitude of those in charge,” the president is reported as saying. He criticised a broadcasting service that was “very expensive” and where there had been a “complete absence of reform since the single structure has existed”, a reference to reforms between 2009 and 2012 when public television channels were brought under the single structure of France Télévisions. The president is also said to have criticised public broadcasting for an “almost non-existent synergy between the cornerstones of the public [broadcasting] enterprises” and for “producing content of variable quality”.
MP Bruno Studer echoes the president's arguments. “When you pay your television licence you have the right to expect a certain level. I am myself sometimes ashamed to see what is on public service channels. That doesn't mean that all broadcasting is a cause for shame.” Mediapart has spoken to a number of MPs who were present at Monday night's meeting and they all confirm the vehemence of the president's comments.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
Télérama claims that Emmanuel Macron also criticised programmes which were “too expensive” and which were mainly aimed at “better educated people”. The president is quoted as saying: “We dedicate very little money to going out and educating people who are distant from culture … who are never going to watch [the arts channel] Arte nor a public television channel. That's the reality.” Another LREM MP, Céline Calvez, who is also on the board of directors at Radio France, says: “The president considers that we should be doing culture and education everywhere, not just in a museum.”
High costs, poor governance and programmes of variable quality are thus among the key criticisms of the current state of public broadcasting by President Macron, who has still never spoken publicly on the issue. He is apparently also critical of the fact that new approaches offered by online and digital technology have not been adopted, an entire world on which “our children are in the process of getting educated”. According to Télérama, he added: “We make programmes for young people saying, it's great, it's for the young … but those who watch it are over 65.”
Finally, the head of state apparently criticised the system for nominating the heads of radio and television stations “who are responsible to no one” and attacked the broadcasting watchdog the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA), which had been created for “another era” and which now had to be “completely reworked”.
The president's reported comments come at a time of crisis in public television. The president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte, is facing more and more internal opposition as she confronts a demand to cut 50 million euros from the budget. At one time there was a plan to make drastic cuts in the number of staff working on its flagship news and current affairs programmes 'Envoyé Spécial' and 'Complément d’Enquête'. This sparked a fierce reaction from employees and a section of the public on social media, and management had to back down. According to daily newspaper Libération, some 180 jobs have to go in all, 30 of them in news. Delphine Ernotte is due to present her budget savings at a meeting of the board of directors on December 21st. At the same time she is facing a motion of no-confidence which is to be tabled on December 12th.
Gabriel Attal, who is an LREM party whip on the cultural affairs and education committee, told Mediapart that reform of public broadcasting should not be reduced to questions of money or personal disputes. “Each time that we speak about public broadcasting today we restrict ourselves to financial resources and personalities, but they're not the issues, we're not doing the matter justice when we we approach it in that way,” he says. Attal says that, according to Macron, what is really at stake is being able to “produce content adapted to new uses, to be able to bring culture closer to a certain number of French people, to have clear and unbiased news” and no “fake news”.
The youthful MP says the toughness of the president's remarks are in line with his ambition for and attachment to public service broadcasting. “What I felt above all was a call for the MPs from the ruling majority to take up these issues. The president is expecting us to propose a major shake-up in this area.” The MP is anticipating the imminent setting up of a Parliamentary working group on the subject.
As for the Ministry of Culture, it has put forward a number of proposals to reduce public spending on broadcasting to the newly-established commission set up to improve the quality of public services, modernise them and save money between now and 2022. Among these proposals, which are contained in a working document revealed by Le Monde, is the suggested merger of Radio France, France Télévisions and other organisations in public sector broadcasting, and the abolition of France Ô, which is aimed at France's overseas territories. The result of these deliberations is expected at the end of March. It seems clear that whatever President Macron exactly said about public service broadcasting to MPs last Monday, his intervention heralds a major reform of the sector.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter