A new boss for TV5 Monde: Kim Younes Charbit, a former manager of the French private channels M6 and BFM Business, has been appointed CEO of the French-speaking channel, for a five-year mandate, its board of directors announced on Wednesday.
At 42, she succeeds the secretary general of France Télévisions, Christophe Tardieu, who has been acting since July and the resignation of Yves Bigot, at the head of TV5 Monde since 2012.
“On a proposal from France”, the candidacy of Kim Younes Charbit “was validated by all the donor countries of TV5 Monde (Canada, Swiss Confederation, Wallonia Brussels Federation, Principality of Monaco, Quebec)”, specifies a press release.
“Driven by the culture of results”, it will “bring modernity and capacity for innovation to the channel”, explains the board of directors chaired by Delphine Ernotte Cunci, boss of France Télévisions.
Since its creation in 1984, TV5 Monde has always been managed by French people, with France controlling more than 60% of its capital via various public companies, including France Télévisions.
A graduate of HEC, Kim Younes Charbit began her career within the strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman, before joining the M6 group in 2008. She assumed “several management positions (…) in programs, budget and advertising management”, recalls TV5 Monde, until her appointment in 2019 as general director of BFM Business, from which she left in 2020.
In 2021, she founded the production company Elvie, which she managed.
Her nomination as candidate for the presidency of TV5 Monde was revealed last week by Télérama, which saw it as a “big surprise”.
His name had never appeared in the list of possible applicants circulating in the press, including the former director of France Culture Olivier Poivre d’Arvor or the former minister Elisabeth Moreno.
His appointment comes after several months of crisis within the channel and the dismissal this summer of news director Françoise Joly.
At the end of May, Yves Bigot announced that he would not be reappointed and that he would resign five months before the end of his mandate.
Her successor will have to tackle the 2025-2028 strategic plan, which envisages the entry of seven African countries (Benin, Gabon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo-Brazzaville) into the capital and generates internal concerns regarding press freedom, according to several media outlets.
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© Agence France-Presse
