French political row over calls for overhaul and €1bn cuts at public broadcaster

French political row over calls for overhaul and €1bn cuts at public broadcaster2 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleHugh SchofieldParis CorrespondentReutersCharles Alloncle, the rapporteur of the committee and an MP for the small Union of the Right for the Republic party, claims to be the victim of state media prejudiceFrance's public sector broadcasters have been lambasted by a parliamentary committee of enquiry, which recommends closing several channels and cutting their budget by a total of €1bn (£863m).The committee, which held six months of at times acrimonious hearings, levelled charges of left-wing bias at state-owned France Télévisions and Radio France, as well as gross financial waste.But the findings were immediately dismissed as politically motivated and impractical by industry insiders, who said that the committee's rapporteur, Charles Alloncle, had a far-right agenda to prepare state TV and radio for privatisation.Criticism has also come from the prime minister and the head of the committee.Alloncle, 32, is an MP for the small Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) party, an ally of Marine Le Pen's populist-right National Rally (RN). The RN – the biggest party in France – has long claimed to be the victim of state media prejudice.In an online petition calling for privatisation, the party says that "public broadcasting is no longer a space of impartial information, but a tool of influence in the service of a particular camp". The heated French debate reflects similar tensions in other countries over the future of tax-funded "legacy" broadcasters, whose declining audiences leave them dangerously exposed to attack.In France, the cost to the state of public broadcasting amounts to nearly €4bn every year. Up until 2022, this was mainly financed by a television licence fee, but it now comes from VAT receipts. Unlike the BBC, for example, French state broadcasters also take advertising.For their money, tax-payers...