Guillaume Meurice’s joke about Netanyahu risks costing him his place.
IMAGO/ABACAPRESS
Six unions (CGT, CFDT, FO, SNJ, SUD, Unsa) filed strike notice for Sunday on Monday evening. This is the day on which Charline Vanhoenacker’s weekly show is broadcast, in which Guillaume Meurice usually participates.
The comedian was suspended on May 2 pending a possible sanction which could go as far as dismissal, four days after having reiterated his controversial remarks about Benjamin Netanyahu made at the end of October. He had compared the Israeli Prime Minister to a “kind of Nazi but without a foreskin”, which had earned him accusations of anti-Semitism and a complaint, recently dismissed.
In their strike notice, the unions demand from the management of the public group “an end to the repression of insolence and humor” and “the unlimited reaffirmation of freedom of expression” on its broadcasts.
“Freedom of expression”
Asked about the Meurice case in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Minister of Culture Rachida Dati judged that “Radio France could not not react”. “In October 2023, Arcom (editor’s note: the audiovisual regulator) had warned in a very well-argued manner (…) France Inter following the column by Guillaume Meurice,” recalled Mme Dati.
“Despite this (…), Guillaume Meurice repeated his column identically”, which potentially exposed Radio France “to a sanction from Arcom”, she continued. Even if Radio France therefore had “no other choice” than to summon the comedian, this affair “may raise questions about freedom of expression”, however, the minister conceded.
More broadly than just the Meurice case, the Radio France unions are concerned in their strike notice about the “threats” which weigh, according to them, “on popular and unique broadcasts”, in particular on France Inter.
“A smear campaign”
On May 3, in the wake of the Meurice affair, the societies of journalists (SDJ) and producers (SDPI) of France Inter denounced “an editorial shift” by France’s leading radio station. In particular, they assured that they had learned of the upcoming replacement of the environmental program “La terre au carré”.
The unions accuse the management of Radio France of pursuing “a policy of social destruction on the air”, while a “public broadcasting reform project will soon be discussed in the National Assembly”.
Project by Mme Dati, the establishment of a single governance for public broadcasting (including France Télévisions and Radio France) will be examined on May 23 and 24 in the hemicycle.
The unions finally denounce “a campaign of denigration and slander orchestrated by political parties, organizations or personalities frankly hostile to the public service of radio”. The latter is frequently accused by right-wing figures of leaning clearly to the left.
(afp)
