In comparison, BBC World, the international arm of Britain's public broadcaster, has a staff of 250 and an undisclosed budget. TF1 is owned by the telecom, construction and media conglomerate Bouygues (012050). Its mission, as stated in the channel's charter, will be to "spread French values abroad." It will also aim to broach controversial topics, as suggested by the slogan "Everything you're not supposed to know."Ī joint venture of government-owned France Télévisions and the commercial channel TF1, France 24 will receive 80 million euros (just over $100 million at the current exchange rate) in funding each year from the government and will also allow advertising. 6 on the Internet, and on cable and satellite television two days later, France 24 boasts a potential audience of 250 million viewers. "He's pushing very hard for it to happen before the elections in the spring."Ĭhirac isn't expected to seek a third mandate, and so he will likely fade from the political scene in 2007. "It's Chirac's personal project and completely a Gaullist idea," said Waddick Doyle, an associate professor of communications at the American University of Paris and an author of essays on French television. "It will reinforce the French influence," France 24 Chairman and Chief Executive Alain de Pouzilhac told the French newspaper Le Figaro. With France 24, the 73-year-old politician hopes to restore French pride, after riots across the country and the rejection of the European constitution in 2005 bruised the country's image abroad.
The project is an illustration of how, in the final year of his tenure, confronted with political deadlock at home, Chirac has shifted his attention to cultural efforts.
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