President Jacques Chirac, addressing his cabinet, said that France “must be at the forefront of the global battle of images, that’s why I am resolved that our country should have an international news channel,” according to government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.
The French International News Network (CFII), known colloquially as CNN a la francaise will be run by a joint company owned by the leading private French television broadcaster TF1 and the public broadcaster France Televisions, Communications Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres told a media conference.
France Televisions will be in the driving chair of the entity, whose 240 staff will produce programmes beamed to Europe, Africa and the Middle East at first, then later also to Asia, Latin America and North America.