Radio France receives congratulations from the Court of Auditors

In a report published this Friday, January 10, the financial jurisdiction salutes the sound management of the Round House for around ten years. A “clear strategy” which allowed good student Radio France to reverse the trend after a delicate period.

Radio France is definitely the good student of public audiovisual service. Already in first place in the hearings – last week's figures confirmed France Inter in the firmament and France Info in second position – the company was also awarded a real satisfaction from the Court of Auditors.

The report published Friday by the financial jurisdiction chaired by Pierre Moscovici, which covers the 2017 financial year and the following, is laudatory. “The situation of Radio France in 2023 shows that this management turnaround, initiated around ten years ago, was pursued within the framework of a clear strategy, conducted with great stability of governance”, can we read there. To the credit of the radio group, the institution notes the increase in the number of listeners in a structurally declining market (– 8% of listeners since 2017), “without renouncing its identity and its public service missions”, as well as its ability to adapt to digital developments to develop “an offer well suited to new and multiple distribution media”, noting that its podcast production is “a considerable asset”. This development “resulted in the increase in own resources (advertising) which exceeded €68 million in 2023” and positive operating results since 2018, with the exception of 2020 (health crisis) and 2022 (international crises, inflation), she indicates.

This good report has all the more value for the public group since the Court had previously raised its bar. In 2015, she pointed “a disorganized and expensive development”, proposing radical reforms both in organization and in means. In 2019, a “Can do better” commended the efforts undertaken. If the construction site of the Round House and its slippages are ancient history, it is a renovation of the social framework – “which has evolved very little” – that the Court calls for, pointing in particular to the fourteen weeks of paid leave for journalists. “In this context, in addition to natural departures, an evolution of conventional agreements is necessary if Radio France wants to maintain the leading position that it enjoys today,” she judges.

While the political context remains uncertain, and after a year marked by a public broadcasting merger bill (suspended with the dissolution), public radio does not fail to insist in its responses to the Court on its “ leading role” to bring its local branches closer to those of France 3 under the Ici label.