And hopefully French newsbabes, like Melissa Theuriau.
Posted on 12/05/2006 7:24:56 PM PST by blam
Bonjour, good evening and welcome
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 1:42am GMT 06/12/2006
Jacques Chirac's dream of a global TV news network á la française, to counter Anglo-Saxon global media dominance, becomes reality tonight as France launches a bilingual 24-hour news service.
After months of preparation and weeks of dry runs, France 24, the new state-funded network, will go live on the internet at 7.29pm GMT, with a 12-minute news bulletin including "internationally renowned guests," and updates every half hour.
Giant plasma screens lining the Champs-Elysees and Tuileries gardens in central palace will beam the channel's first historic pictures. Tomorrow, the channel will begin broadcasting via cable and satellite to nearly 75 million households in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
Broadcast in English and French, and later Arab and Spanish, the channel, in Chirac's words, aims to propel France into the "global battle of images", taking on the BBC, CNN, and the English service of Al Jazeera.
Yesterday, its unfinished offices, lit in neon and ultra-violet, were abuzz with fresh-faced journalists and presenters, babbling in muddled franglais.
Two back-to-back control rooms, one in English, the other in French, are poised to perform a unique broadcast balancing act – airing international news simultaneously in two languages, using the same running order, reports and even the same correspondents.
However, it remained to be seen if the quality of the English reporting would be equal to the French. A ticker on the outside of the building, on the southern outskirts of Paris, suggested there could be some communication problems, as it proudly advertised the channel's "spotligths on hot topics" and "in depths reporting". France 24 brashly claims to be "the channel that shows what the audience is not supposed to see, find out or know."
Sceptics argue that its shoestring budget – £58 million compared to CNN's £432 million – means it cannot hope to compete with the other global big hitters nor live up to its slogan of "Beyond the News". It has just 180 journalists, with an average age of 31, spread thinly over two 24-hour channels, and only 36 dedicated correspondents.
The channel also hopes to lure "opinion leaders" with a heavy dose of culture and art de vivre. A third of its images will be home-produced, the rest coming from agencies and other French networks.
Charlotte Sector, who worked five years for CNN in New York and is producing tonight's broadcast, says this is missing the point: "We're a bit like a young start-up, with a young, modern image. Size isn't everything. You only have to look at the internet to know that people like alternative news sources, that's what they'll come to us for.
"You only have to look at how CNN and others covered the suburban riots in France, which they misportrayed as a civil war, to know that another viewpoint is welcome," added Valérie Fayolle, the anchorwoman.
The 2002 Iraq conflict convinced Chirac, and his foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin – now prime minister – that French diplomacy was suffering from a lack of global media presence and that the French world view needed an international outlet. Four years on, Alain de Pouzilhac, the channel's chief executive, shrugs off suggestions that he is presiding over a political mouthpiece.
"This channel is completely independent from political parties and lobby groups. It will broadcast international news through French eyes – not the French government, but the French people. So it will carry our values – diversity, the French love of debate, discussion and confronting ideas," he said.
If you're France, why bother. Just translate the English edition of CNN International. Then you basically have an anti-American, smug, and boring network. It's French TV without the cost.
The government treasury is behind it, so it won't close before France closes.
And hopefully French newsbabes, like Melissa Theuriau.
Now the French can get the progress of their absolute and complete surrender to Islam 24 hours a day.
Verbal labotomies- that's what the left are aiming for- French T.V in one ear, Radical Islam T.V in the other- Mindless drooling idiots will be the result. http://sacredscoop.com
A desperate attempt to hold onto their dying language and culture. France is exhibit A of what damage rampant socialism wrecks on a society.
No doubt those plasma screens out in the streets will still be showing babes babbling in French as the last bastion falls to Muslim rioters outside. None of which, of course, will appear in these news reports.
The dual english/french setup is....very French indeed.
Perhaps they should try being successful in French speaking countries then moving on to English?
Nahh, that would make some sort of sense, and it is the French we are talking about after all.
Who wants to bet that there first interview of a US politician will be John F. Kerry?
Agreed, if its Melissa Theuriau televise it here.
And I don't speak french!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1G-3laJJP0
Deutsche Welle runs a similar service as do the Russians. I would love to be able to add this to my viewing.
Euronews is mostly pre-recorded, but it gives a very good rundown of European news for that day. That's broadcast in 8 languages simultaneously, just select a different audio subcarrier. So I'm not quite sure what the French are trying to accomplish here, other than spinning the news for French interests, not just French language.
C'est bon pour tous les étudiants de la langue français. It's a good thing for all the students studying French. Wish they had this when I was back in school.
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