Political row as report calls for sweeping cuts to French public broadcasting

French politicians on the left and centre have criticised a parliament inquiry report that recommends sweeping cuts to public broadcasting, with a row over culture wars building before next year’s presidential election. State broadcasting is a key topic in the run-up to April’s vote, with the far right, which is leading in the polls, highly critical of public TV and radio and vowing to privatise it . Charles Alloncle of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) party, which is allied to Marine Le Pen ’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), published a report on Tuesday after setting up a five-month parliament inquiry into the “neutrality, workings and financing” of public broadcasting, after far-right politicians claimed that state TV and radio were biased against them. Alloncle recommended that the French president should directly nominate the heads of public broadcasting, backed up by votes in parliament and the senate. He also suggested reducing the public broadcasting budget by 25%, merging several major channels, cutting youth broadcasting, cutting the gameshow and entertainment budget by 75%, and cutting the sport budget by 33%. Alloncle said that French state TV and radio is “ill-adapted to our era”, faces a financial crisis, has “lost touch with what French people want”, and must be completely reformed. …