Nicolas Sarkozy was accused yesterday of lining the pockets of his media tycoon friends and exerting a Berlusconi-style grip on the airwaves, after he announced a plan to ban advertising from public television and revolutionize French state TV along the lines of the BBC.
Sarkozy, who moves in a circle of wealthy television owners and press barons and counts "Tlpresident" among his numerous nicknames, surprised even his own culture minister this week when he announced that adverts should be eliminated from France's five state TV stations in the name of a "cultural revolution in public service television".
The president, whose advisers have recently been studying the BBC model, announced that banning adverts would boost the quality of state programming as part of his promised new renaissance of French civilization.
He also announced changes to the rolling news station, France 24 - the "French CNN" which Jacques Chirac launched to rival the BBC and American news channels. France 24's English and Arabic channels would be scrapped because the president felt French views were better expressed in French. The station would also be merged with France's other international public channels.
Scrapping adverts from state TV would mean $1.17 bn in advertising revenue immediately transferring to private stations. The government plans to tax those private stations to fund state TV.
But critics were quick to compare him to Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who wielded formidable control over the media during his time in office. The Socialist party fumed that the immediate beneficiaries of the shift in advertising would be Sarkozy's own media tycoon friends. Within minutes of Sarkozy making the announcement, shares in France's biggest private TV station, TF1, soared.
The station is owned by a close friend of Sarkozy, Martin Bouygues.
The socialist Sgolne Royal said: "It's a great gift for Martin Bouygues, good friend of Sarkozy."
"Happy new year Martin," said one media analyst.
The row highlighted Sarkozy's close links and shared lifestyle with media magnates. Another potential beneficiary is Vincent Bollor, the wealthy industrialist with interests in private TV who loaned his private jet to Sarkozy and his girlfriend, Carla Bruni, at Christmas.
While the French president does not own any media assets, his friends in high places and power over deferential media bosses have caused controversy over interference and favorable coverage.
Awkward stories have been pulled from newspapers owned by the president's industrialist friends, or - in the case of Paris Match - an editor was sacked for displeasing Sarkozy before he became president.
Sarkozy has boasted of his power over state TV, suggesting during his campaign that, once in office, he could get station directors sacked.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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