Overview
- Radio France staff began a two-day strike on Sunday that knocked France Inter’s morning shows off the air and prevented Charles Sapin’s scheduled Sunday commentary from being broadcast.
- France Inter director Céline Pigalle has defended Sapin’s appointment as an act of pluralism and said she trusts he will not put the station’s airwaves at risk.
- Around 300 public personalities published a tribune in Le Parisien calling for the removal of Sapin’s column and arguing that the slot would normalize ideas they say are dangerous to democracy.
- Unions point to Valeurs Actuelles’ repeated legal condemnations and the presence of billionaire shareholder Pierre-Édouard Stérin as reasons the magazine is incompatible with the public broadcaster’s mission, and France Télévisions unions have also protested Sapin’s appearances on franceinfo TV.
- The dispute has moved into the political arena and could reshape debates over editorial balance and the remit of public media in the run-up to the presidential election, with further protests and political responses expected.