Radio France and France Télévisions have taken the media CNews, Europe 1 and JDD, in the hands of conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, to court for “denigration”, we learned on Tuesday from a close source, confirming information from Le Figaro.
The two public groups have not commented on this legal action initiated separately with the Economic Affairs Court, which comes against the backdrop of a conflict with Vincent Bolloré’s private media who accuse the public broadcasting sector of bias.
In an article published on its site, Le Figaro indicates that the complaint was filed “last week” for “disparagement”, which “is a grievance constituting unfair competition”. He specifies that Radio France and France Télévisions “consulted” but that they “acted separately”.
When contacted, the management of radio Europe 1 indicated “not to comment” on this information.
The conflict between these two media blocs exploded in September in the wake of the Legrand-Cohen affair, two public service journalists accused of collusion with the PS.
These hostilities were triggered by a video broadcast at the beginning of September by the media L’Incorrect, the source of a lively political-media controversy.
This affair was widely commented on on CNews, Europe 1 and the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), who saw it as a sign of political bias in the public service.
France Télévisions and Radio France counter-attacked by contacting Arcom, the audiovisual regulator, to which they denounced “a smear campaign”.
“Vincent Bolloré’s media galaxy wants the skin of public broadcasting, demands its privatization,” declared Delphine Ernotte Cunci, the president of France Télévisions, in an interview with Le Monde in mid-September.
“We must admit that CNews is an opinion media. Let them accept being an extreme right channel!”, she added.
The boss of CNews, Serge Nedjar, reacted by denouncing a “lack of measure and responsibility on the part of the president of France Télévisions”.
After hearing Ms Ernotte Cunci and Ms Sibyle Veil, president of Radio France, on the Legrand-Cohen affair, Arcom indicated that it wanted to “deepen its work on the impartiality of the public service”.