Ladies and gentlemen,
The transformation of public broadcasting was a campaign commitment of the President of the Republic, it is now a priority of the executive. I am here to carry it with determination. My ambition is to create a global media with a universal vocation.
First, a word about the government’s approach. Where our predecessors have systematically addressed the issues of organization, nomination and funding, we have made the transformation of supply our priority. At a time of digital upheavals, we must give priority to investing in content rather than in a mode of distribution. For several months, I have been working together with the six companies that make up the public broadcaster: INA, France Médias Monde, Radio France, ARTE, TV5 Monde, France Télévisions.
I greet the presence of Delphine Ernotte, Sibyle Veil, Marie-Christine Saragosse, Véronique Cayla, Yves Bigot and Laurent Vallet; I was right to trust you in proposing this collective initiative.
Today, I gather to present to you the foundations, directions and method of this ambitious transformation.
We have made an observation. Not that of failure. There is no failure. The observation of inadequacies, delays, the deadlock of the race to the hearing, the absence, above all, of risk-taking.
The recognition that the environment in which public broadcasting must fulfil its missions has also changed radically.
With the proliferation of channels and antennas on radio channels and with new global digital players devoting massive investments to content.
The audiovisual service keeps its faithful: those for whom it has been a companion of life, the relay of the great moments of History. Many are nostalgic for the first few hours, but they are still there. This faithfulness is important to me, and I will respect it.
Then there are the children of the faithful: those who grew up with Bernard Pivot and Michel Drucker; those who remember Stéphane Paoli’s matinales, the historical jingles of France Info. Public service channels and stations are part of their lives. They are attached to it, but they will also look elsewhere, ungrateful looking for the big thrill on Netflix.
And then there are the children’s children. Those for whom the public audiovisual does not evoke anything, except the radio and the TV of the parents. They are born in a media ocean. They “swap” and “zap”.
That is one-third of the population, which is not there. It does not distinguish private supply from public supply. They expect nothing from this audiovisual. It’s up to us to surprise them.
To miss this generation is to miss the next.
It is for them that we must succeed.
The only scenario is to transform to meet the new expectations of the public.
The public broadcaster must dictate the tempo, take risks, dare. The INA was at the forefront in creating an archive system. Radio France was one of the first in the podcast revolution and France Télévisions in mobile production modes, with the Tour de France, copied all over the world.
Public broadcasting is a pioneering spirit.
The missions of public service remain: to address all French people. And to address them, otherwise. Leave no one on the side of the road, keep their DNA, meet the challenge of distinction, while moulting.
Our public service audiovisual will reaffirm its difference to become:
- An engaged media, committed to citizens, committed to the values of the Republic, committed to the life of the city. A medium that reflects our society, that speaks to all but also speaks of all.
- A medium that dares creation, on the other hand, that dares to launch into new formats, which relies on original, offbeat, unexpected writings.
- A medium, finally, that anticipates the uses related to technological change and the modes of dissemination to come. A medium that works, produces and disseminates differently.
To be a committed media, first of all, is to assume three major missions of public service: proximity; information and debate of ideas; education.
Our public audiovisual service must give more voice to the territories.
France 3 and France bleu are already at the heart of this issue, they must be even more so tomorrow and by combining their respective strengths.
We are setting up this global medium of daily life. A medium largely inspired by the French Overseas Territories that is available on TV, radio and social networks. The starting point is content, but that content adapts to these different modes of delivery. Content that delivers practical information – France Bleu is already doing so and has found its audience. France Bleu is also the “hot news” reflex. When a major event occurs in one of our territories, the teams of France Bleu and France 3 are often the first on the spot, to report, to inform. Today, France 3 is only two hours of regional drop-out per day. The identity of France 3 will therefore be refocused on the fundamental mission of proximity. I would like to see the hours of regional programming tripled.
Being an engaged media means better and better information.
It has all the advantages: reference and independent newspapers and news programs; an unparalleled international news, which must nevertheless irrigate the public service and serve France’s international reach. External public broadcasting will be the subject of ad ho c reflection.
Public service must also be our first weapon against misinformation. A common platform for deciphering fake news will be hosted on franceinfo’s website. It will be launched this Wednesday.
Finally, the major media is the one that gives priority to education and youth.
The investment in youth, knowledge and education content will be amplified but by rethinking the balance between linear and digital offerings.
In the same way as for the decryption offer, a common offer in consumer education will be launched to end the scattering and gain visibility. This offer must become the essential support of revision of all those who pass the baccalaureate, the best ally of those who pass the patent, the language assistant of all our college students...
Young British people are very supportive of the BBC. We want to be inspired by that.
Finally, this committed media must mirror our differences. Of one sex and the other, or both, of all colors, of all origins, urban, rural. The Land of Enlightenment, on this subject of diversity, is highly reactionary. With an unambiguous political will, our committed media will change attitudes on the ground. Delphine, you must have felt very lonely when you had an obvious and courageous observation: «the white man of more than 50 years», you remember. You are no longer alone. I will carry this demand with as much passion as I do in my ministry. I will have no taboo. Your people are not being listened to enough. I am asking you to strengthen them. They will meet in a single committee charged with leading the fight and proposing ambitious goals that will be included in the specifications of each company.
Together, we will also build a medium that takes risks when it comes to creation.
You have made this bet for a long time. Today it is a treasure.
I have protected the €560 million invested each year in the production of films, series, documentaries, animated films and live performances. Public service media will remain the first partners in French audiovisual creation.
But this first place is obviously a challenge because staying the leader is always more difficult than becoming one. Yes, it requires shaking up what seems to be working. So let’s shake up. The content, the writings will have to emancipate to make a difference.
I am announcing that two new digital offers will be launched to support this creation:
- A new media of arts and culture, gathering hundreds of hours of recordings, podcasts, webseries, from the offers of the six companies. It will be launched at the end of June.
- A “youth” offer common to Radio France, France Télévisions and France Médias Monde, with short and innovative formats. This is one of the major challenges of the reform in order to win back the young public;
We are protecting the creative effort, but the relationship between the public broadcaster and its producers must evolve, as the BBC does. Companies must have a rich catalogue of works they can use, especially in the digital world.
Finally, our public broadcasting will become a medium that anticipates uses related to technological change and future modes of broadcasting. A medium that works, produces and disseminates differently.
We missed a step in the technological revolution. We will not miss the next one: very high-speed broadband, which will be widespread by 2022, and the next one. We will not miss the generation that was born with a smartphone in our hands. To be universal is to address the faithful, to address the «Digital natives», too. A generation that proclaims “where I want, when I want”.
The “where I want” implies a technological change and a serious investment in digital. The presence of our public broadcasters on social networks must be at the heart of companies. We will build an industrial digital champion to win back the young audience.
The companies will both increase and consolidate their efforts: together they will invest an additional 150 million euros in digital by 2022, and they will develop all new joint online offerings.
The Digital Natives offer – which is also the “whenever I want” generation – will be more visible and better adapted to their uses. The meeting offered by a grid is a common base. But we must be able to emancipate ourselves from it. The linear offer will be refocused in the service of a more marked identity. To do so, we must make choices.
France Télévisions will at least release the radio channel of France 4 and it will be necessary to question our fellow-citizens of Outre-Sea and their elected representatives to determine whether the future is for the maintenance of France Ô on the radio channel or on the contrary for the strengthening of the ultramarine presence on general channels. Moreover, the highly established and popular offer of the French overseas territories must be even more present on the digital front.
This concentration will make it possible to invest in the construction of a supply-to-demand solution that corresponds to a growing use.
I set clear priorities:
Innovation, the new frontier of French public broadcasting, of which we will make a digital champion.
Creation, you know, my big fight. This sector will be strengthened.
Education which forms the common foundation of citizenship
Proximity, with the construction of a large media of daily life
Information by cultivating the demand and freedom of tone
This scenario of transformation we will realize with its main actors: the women and men who make the public broadcasting, on the ground; the employees of companies that surpass themselves to offer the French the best programs throughout the year.
Synergies between companies will develop, to enable the public audiovisual sector to innovate, gain performance and visibility. They will also require efficiencies and savings to fund priorities. There is room for manoeuvre, as we know, and the transformation of companies also requires a profound transformation of their organization and management.
The leaders will organize without delay the consultation to prepare these internal transformations.
The transformation will obviously take place with all professionals in the audiovisual sector, with the creative sector, who will be consulted by mid-July.
I appointed a mission to carry out the consultation.
Its role will be to ensure that all the public broadcasting partners are consulted and that the citizens' debate that businesses will engage is established. It will also focus on three specific topics related to companies: the stakes around the French OverseasMer, the external audiovisual sector and the cooperation arrangements between France Télévisions and Radio France in particular for the development of local services.
I am pleased to introduce its members today.
Isabelle Giordano whom I thank for her constant commitment to the service of audiovisual and cinema;
Frédéric Lenica, expert in the regulation of the sector;
Claire Leproust who never ceases to innovate and will be the one who will take us out of the framework;
Marc Tessier who has been here since the beginning, thank you Marc;
Catherine Smadja, its secretary general, who spent more than ten years at the BBC, will enlighten us with her rich experience.
You have understood a desire for citizen conquest animates us. A desire to anticipate and take advantage of technological changes, a team spirit, the France team of Public Audiovisual that I have the immense honor to train. For better and better.
We have focused on supply transformation because that’s what the public needs today. In a second phase, we will open three projects, which will find their translation in laws in 2019:
- Governance Reform
- Regulation in the digital age
- Financing with the reform of the contribution to public broadcasting
I now turn the floor over to those who will bring this transformation to life, the six presidents of public service broadcasting.