Controversy at Radio France surrounding the arrival of Charles Sapin on France Inter

The controversy does not fall on Radio France. At the heart of the criticism: the announced arrival of Charles Sapin, deputy editorial director of Valeurs Acteurs, for a weekly column on France Inter. A decision which led the inter-union to file a strike notice for September 13 and 14.

By opening the public group's back-to-school press conference on Thursday, the president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, accepted this choice. “Public service belongs to everyone,” she recalled, while affirming that the group was intended to allow voices with different opinions to coexist on its broadcasts.

A defense of pluralism as the presidential election approaches

For Sibyle Veil, public service “is not a battlefield”, but it is not “neutral and sanitized” either. The manager insisted on the independence and impartiality of Radio France, believing that it was not up to management to exclude speakers based on their opinions.

She also recalled that several personalities of the house had, over the years, been the subject of requests to be removed from the antenna. Among the names mentioned are Sophia Aram and Charline Vanhoenacker.

Strong internal opposition

The dispute, however, remains lively. In a motion adopted unanimously on Wednesday, Radio France employees expressed their “categorical refusal” to see Charles Sapin take the air. They believe that the values ​​held by Valeurs Acteurs are not compatible with those of the public group.

The director of France Inter, Céline Pigalle, for her part defended this recruitment by explaining that she wanted to “liven up the national conversation” in the run-up to the presidential election. In a message addressed to employees, editorial director Vincent Meslet assured that Radio France would “without delay” draw the consequences of possible slippages. “We don’t condemn anyone before they have spoken. We don’t do anything afterwards,” he wrote.