Public audiovisual: Rachida Dati wants “all opinions” to have “their rightful place”

“The public service has a mission of citizenship education,” declared Rachida Dati in an interview with Journal du Dimanche. As a result, the Minister of Culture believes that public radio and television must “give all opinions, those which make up the diversity of France, their rightful place”.

The new occupant of rue de Valois also announced that she will meet “soon” with the leaders of public broadcasting. If the French are, according to her, “very attached” to it, the latter must face “competition from non-European players, the evolution of audiences, the upheaval of practices and the emergence of artificial intelligence” .

Rachida Dati had already estimated on Wednesday that to “preserve” public broadcasting, it was necessary to “gather forces” in a “powerful pole”, on the model of certain European neighbors. “We must make this reform and quickly. You can count on me,” she told France Inter. “Public broadcasting, in a rule of law, in a democracy, it must be preserved” and “in a world which is undergoing immense technological upheaval, if you want to preserve it, you must bring together forces,” argued the minister. .

Also read: Dati wants to “bring together the forces” of public broadcasting into a “powerful pole”

Following the British model, a French-style BBC? “When I was not Minister of Culture, it was my idea, my conviction” already, underlined Rachida Dati. “There can be mergers, cooperation, positive synergies,” she suggested. “We started it through local networks.” The merger between the television channel France 3 and the regional radio stations France Bleu should ultimately result in a single brand of local public broadcasting, with unions fearing a merger.

The Minister of Culture also spoke about the particular attention she pays to cultural issues in Paris, a city where she was president of the opposition group in the municipal council before her appointment.

“It is up to the Minister of Culture to defend the capital of France. The opposite would be reproached to me, regardless of the battles I may have led in the past and my current mandate as an elected official,” she commented, adding: “Culture and Paris are inseparable.”

Unsurprisingly, she tackled her rival Anne Hidalgo in passing: “I regret, like many French people, that Paris is gradually losing its status as a City of Lights. Its dirt, its endless traffic jams, the insecurity… all of this harms the cultural dimension of Paris.”