The Canal + group “deeply shocked” by the threat of censorship of CNews / C8 by the government – ​​RT in French

The Canal+ group, owner of the C8 and CNews channels, expressed concern about statements by Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak against two of its channels. She raised the possibility of a non-renewal of their license.

Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak targeted C8 and CNews, hinting at possible censorship of these two media.

“We were deeply shocked by the remarks made by the Minister of Culture”, lamented on February 9 in a press release the Canal + group, a subsidiary of Vivendi. “Nearly five minutes of his intervention were devoted to criticism of our group and to invectives against our C8 and CNews channels”, he points out.

The minister ruled on the morning of February 9 on France Inter “inadmissible” the call for the privatization of public broadcasting by the star host of C8, Cyril Hanouna, in mid-January in his program Do not touch My TV.

Cyril Hanouna’s diatribe followed statements by Rima Abdul Malak, recalling that the television regulator, Arcom, could remove the frequency made available to them if they did not meet their obligations. The pass of arms had continued in the press, the boss of Canal +, Maxime Saada, retorting that “a minister should not say that”.

A problem of independence?

“I am in my role when I recall the existing framework”, defended the minister on France Inter. “There are obligations to respect. There have already been around twenty Arcom interventions since 2019 for C8 and CNews. After how many interventions will Arcom be able to say to what degree the obligations are not being respected? This is the role of Arcom,” she added.

“By suggesting again that the licenses of our channels do not deserve to be renewed in 2025 even though she refuses to comment on the renewal procedure for other audiovisual players, the Minister is taking sides, of its reserve and does not respect the independence of our regulator”, estimates for its part Canal+. This statement also arouses “the concern of our employees by threatening the sustainability of their professional activity”, adds the group.