Overview
- Médiamétrie data for September show CNews at a 3.9% audience share, ahead of BFMTV (2.9%), LCI (2.2%) and franceinfo (1.1%), marking a ninth straight month at No. 1.
- Audience gains are closely tied to personality-driven programming, with shows led by Pascal Praud, Christine Kelly, Laurence Ferrari and others posting sharp increases, including Praud at 19.2% PDA and a daily record of 6.3% on September 10.
- Director-general Serge Nedjar says CNews has no political intent and is not an extreme-right channel, pushing back on criticism tied to its ownership within Vincent Bolloré’s media group.
- France Télévisions chief Delphine Ernotte has urged CNews to assume the label of an extreme-right opinion channel and accuses the Bolloré outlets of targeting public broadcasting.
- The regulatory battle has intensified, with new complaints to Arcom about CNews segments and an INA count showing CNews carried 95.6% of news-channel coverage of the Legrand-Cohen affair, even as Arcom’s former president previously stated the channel respects political pluralism.