"End of reporting and investigation... Rachida Dati wants public media like Bolloré's": interview with historian Alexis Lévrier

Why is it important to have a strong public broadcasting system?

Not all media outlets can be owned by billionaires . In terms of pluralism, this would obviously be very damaging. When a society tends towards an illiberal, authoritarian regime, the press and public broadcasting are the first to suffer .

France experienced this temptation at the time of ORTF. Today, it is returning: not through privatization, but through the supervision of public broadcasting , which hampers the government with its independence. To prevent the suffering broadcasting sector from being bought up by oligarchs, we need it to truly belong to the citizens. That is what public service is all about.

How can Laurence Bloch and Rachida Dati weaken public broadcasting? What are the dangers?

The position of Laurence Bloch (former director of France Inter and co-author of a report on public broadcasting – Editor's note) is incomprehensible. Does she want to play a role within this holding company supported by the Minister of Culture? Rachida Dati is not hiding her position.

She asserts her position with denigrating and hostile remarks about public broadcasting journalism. She wants an end to reporting and investigation, and wants media outlets like those of Vincent Bolloré , where there are no investigations or revelations about the corruption of political leaders.

The Minister of Culture isn't the only one who wants to see the end of public radio and television. When the Complément d'enquête on the actions of Gérard Depardieu was released, Emmanuel Macron questioned the program, calling it a montage. He therefore reused a piece of fake news from Bolloré's group. Questioning the skills of journalists and weakening public media in their critical functions is a desire to impose control.

How can we finance public broadcasting?

The solution would be to reinstate the license fee. Instead of changing it, it was abolished, weakening the audiovisual sector. On this point, a step backward is necessary. And, for that, we need to develop a fairer tax so that a worker doesn't pay the same amount as a senior executive. Yes, taxes are important since these media outlets belong to the citizens.

How can we better guarantee the independence of journalists?

Bolloré and Stérin's private media dominate the landscape. They impose their themes and their vocabulary. Some major media outlets tend to follow in their footsteps. For the independence of journalists, we must continue to strengthen the unions , and Rachida Dati must be removed from her position.

When we see the sequence from the show C à vous where she threatens the journalist Patrick Cohen , it is incredibly violent. Fortunately, there are still journalists from independent media and some from public broadcasting.

Their work was particularly useful during the legislative elections: they did their job by revealing the true face of the National Rally, for example. Thanks to fact-focused interviews, the journalists exposed the far right's true motives and its own incompetence.