Public audiovisual: Rachida Dati announces a return of the reform before Parliament in June

Enough to rekindle the revolt at Radio France and France Télévisions . Culture Minister Rachida Dati announced on Wednesday, May 7, that the proposed reform of public broadcasting would be brought back to Parliament in June. "The determination of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister remains intact," Rachida Dati assured on France Inter . "I am determined about this reform" and "will certainly not give up on it."

According to her, the merger of public broadcasting companies , led by Radio France and France Télévisions, with a single presidency and board of directors, should make it possible to protect the public service against "private groups which are being formed (and) can also be issues of influence" as well as to "resist (the) platforms through massive investments".

Rachida Dati also criticized a public service that, according to her , "no longer reaches young people (nor) the working classes. It is becoming a club for CSP + (the most affluent socio-professional categories, editor's note) and older people." However, France Inter remains the clear leader in radio audiences in the first quarter of 2025, while Franceinfo is battling with RTL for second place in the ranking.

The examination of the reform project, decried by the unions who see it as an attack on public broadcasting, was again suspended last April . The examination in the hemicycle was postponed indefinitely, following a verbal altercation between Rachida Dati and a civil servant of the Assembly . The two groups had experienced new episodes of strikes in March and April to protest the reform.

This reform "is beginning to gain consensus, despite the caricatures being made of it," the minister said on Wednesday. "We must stop caricaturing this reform by saying it's a far-right reform; that's how Madame (Sibyle) Veil presents it," she added, targeting the head of Radio France, who is opposed to the reform.

The project aims to create a holding company, France Médias, overseeing France Télévisions, Radio France, and the INA (National Audiovisual Institute), under the authority of a president. The text was approved in the Senate at first reading in 2023.

This sea serpent, which has already failed to materialize three times, was relaunched by Rachida Dati upon her arrival at the ministry in early 2024. The original project envisaged a merger of the companies, in a sort of French BBC, but it was interrupted by the dissolution of the Assembly in the summer.