“French CNN” to (Barely) Get Off the Ground
Friday, December 10th, 2004Nathalie Schuck has a treatment in the Nouvel Observateur of the new French TV channel for international news, the Chaîne Française d’Information Internationale or CII, (The “CNN à la française” On the Rails, But Poorly Endowed). As is obvious here, this is supposed to become an international competitor to such news organizations as CNN and the BBC, but presenting the French point-of-view. (But note: in English and Arabic, in addition to French). Premier Jean-Pierre Raffarin on Thursday announced that CII would take to the airwaves next year, as a joint project of the television networks TFI and France Télévisions, financed by the state to the tune of €30 million per year.
This would seem finally to meet the call first made in 2002 by French President Jacques Chirac for a “great international news network in French”, which he maintained then was “essential for the image of our country.” (more…)
