On 18 April, Marie-Christine Saragosse was reappointed CEO of the France Médias Monde (FMM) the group in charge of French international broadcasting for another five-year term. Saragosse, who had been in charge of FMM since 2012, had to leave her post in mid-February when her mandate lapsed after she failed to provide details of her statement of assets and interests on time owing to an administrative oversight.
France Médias Monde, includes the news channels France 24 (in French, English, Arabic and Spanish), RFI (Radio France Internationale), the news and current affairs radio station that broadcasts worldwide in French and in 13 other languages, and the Arabic-language radio station Monte Carlo Doualiya, which broadcasts from Paris to the Middle East, Mauritania, Djibouti, and South Sudan on medium wave, FM, via satellite and partner radio stations. FMM employs 1,856 people (full time equivalent).
According to the draft budget law being currently examined in Parliament France Médias Monde 2018 budget is to be set at some €263m.
Saragosse presented her Strategic Plan for FMM in April.
This plan lists FMM’s core principles as the need to abide by the group’s code of ethics, to defend freedom of information through increased security, including cyber security, and to combat fake news.
The plan stresses also that FMM is to strive to promote respect for human rights and diversity, by combating stereotypes.
FMM’s missions include, among others, “telling France’s narrative” in all its aspects, including in the political, social and economic spheres, but also its cultural and research achievements.