Mobilization in sight at radio France. The unions called for a strike on Sunday to protest against “the repression of insolence and humor” after the suspension of Guillaume Meurice, as well as against “threats” weighing on certain France Inter broadcasts. Six unions (CGT, CFDT, FO, SNJ, SUD, Unsa) filed Monday evening a strike notice for Sunday from 00:00 to midnight. This is the day on which Charline Vanhoenacker’s weekly show is broadcast, in which Guillaume Meurice usually participates.
The comedian was suspended on May 2 pending a possible sanction which could go as far as dismissal, four days after having reiterated his controversial comments about Benjamin Netanyahu made at the end of October. He had compared the Israeli Prime Minister to a “kind of Nazi but without a foreskin”, which had earned him accusations of anti-Semitism and a complaint, recently dismissed. In their strike notice, the unions demand from the management of the public group “an end to the repression of insolence and humor” and “the unlimited reaffirmation of freedom of expression” on its broadcasts.
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More broadly, the unions are worried about the “threats” which, according to them, weigh “on popular and unique broadcasts”, in particular on France Inter. On May 3, in the wake of the Meurice affair, the societies of journalists (SDJ) and producers (SDPI) of France Inter denounced “an editorial shift” by France’s leading radio station. In particular, they assured that they had learned of the upcoming replacement of the environmental program “La terre au carré”. The unions accuse the management of Radio France of pursuing “a policy of social destruction on the air” while a “public broadcasting reform project will soon be discussed in the National Assembly”.
Project of the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, the establishment of a single governance for public audiovisual (including France Télévisions and Radio France) will be examined on May 23 and 24 in the hemicycle. The unions finally denounce “a campaign of denigration and slander orchestrated by political parties, organizations or personalities frankly hostile to the public service of radio”. The latter is frequently accused by right-wing figures of leaning clearly to the left.