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A petition urging the French government to ban a television news channel known for its hard line on immigration and crime has accrued more than 500,000 signatures amid accusations that its sensationalist coverage contributed to racist violence.
Petition Growth and the Attack in Paris Suburbs
The petition to shut down CNews was launched in June, but support spiked after a Frenchman of Congolese origin was killed in a racially motivated attack in the Paris suburbs on October 23. A 39-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the incident in the commuter towns of Trappes and La Verriere west of Paris. A prosecutor stated that the suspect said he was targeting individuals who appeared to be Muslim, African, or North African.
French media have reported that the suspect was an avid consumer of CNews. The network has been described as a French version of Fox News and criticized for giving too much airtime to anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Accusations of Propaganda and Political Links
The petition to remove CNews from French broadcasting argues that the channel, which is owned by conservative French billionaire Vincent Bollore, is not an information channel but a propaganda machine. Critics have claimed that CNews’ broadcasting increasingly mimics lines taken by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which is leading in polls ahead of the presidential election.
Le Pen has promised to privatize public broadcasting in France, a policy from which CNews would stand to benefit. At a rally in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, protesters held up posters reading slogans such as “CNews kills.” During nationwide cost-of-living protests on October 17, protesters threw projectiles and broke windows at the channel’s Paris headquarters. Meanwhile, two Green lawmakers have urged France’s lower house of parliament to withdraw accreditation for CNews to protect democracy from racist hatred. Earlier this year, France expelled Russian news pundit Xenia Fedorova, who had been accused of peddling Kremlin propaganda on the channel.
CNews Response and Market Growth
The channel has also been accused of broadcasting racist comments about Bally Bagayoko, a Frenchman of Malian descent who is the mayor of Paris’ largest suburb, Saint-Denis, and who has gained prominence for his role in defending students in his constituency against police violence during recent protests. CNews has previously denied allegations it promotes far-right views and racist tropes, stating that it defends freedom of expression. As reported by the French AFP news agency, the network stated it would not comment on a political petition.
At its launch in 2017, CNews had just a 1% market share but last year became France’s most-watched free-to-air news channel. Under National Assembly rules, a public debate can be organized in parliament if a petition attracts at least 500,000 signatures, though a parliamentary commission must first review the petition and decide whether a debate can take place.
