“We are afraid of losing our identity”

Tuesday November 5, the regional channel and the France Bleu branches will become “Ici”. A further step in a rapprochement undertaken last year. Internally, journalists point out the editorial inconsistency which persists between the two media.

UA date was finally set. On November 5, the name of France 3 in the region will be a thing of the past, definitively replaced by the adverb “here”. The France 3 logo will only be retained for programs on the national channel (such as fiction and recurring shows). More than a change of name, the management's objective is to continue the rapprochement with the regional branches of France Bleu, which should take the same title in January.

The adverb has already been adopted by the new France 3 news shows – Ici 12/13 and Ici 19/20 –, as well as by the morning shows and the digital application shared with France Bleu. “This identifier for viewers is the assurance that they have local information related to their daily lives”says Xavier Riboulet, director of the Ici project. The rapprochement between the two entities has been taking place for several years, pushed by the public authorities despite protests from employees. The cooperation was announced in 2018 by former Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen. The first joint morning shows were launched a year later. The 2024 budget, adopted last fall, provided 45 million euros, ultimately reduced to 32 million, for the transformation programs of France Télévisions, giving the merger of France 3 and France Bleu priority in the work to be launched. .

We still do not have editorial consistency between the journalists of France Bleu and France 3.

Alexandre Chassignon, journalist at France Bleu and elected SNJ at the CSE

In a press release published on October 31, the management of France Télévisions took advantage of the announcement of the name change to highlight the progress of the project. In total, regional radio and television share 37 morning shows, with two more pooling planned in 2025. Journalists from France Bleu and France 3 will work together under the Ici banner to cover events such as the La Marathon. Rochelle, scheduled for November 24. “This complementarity allows you not to miss anything of the event”we can also read in the press release.

Some journalists do not share the same enthusiasm as management. They are worried about a loss of identity which would suggest a merger of the channels with France Bleu. In a strike notice, the unions of the France 3 network (CFDT, CGT, FO, SNJ, Sud) demand the abandonment of the new name. They call on employees to stop work for twenty-four hours starting November 4 at midnight. “This transformation started with small touches, without ever having the big picture, regrets a union representative. We are afraid of losing an identity built after so many years. » On the radio side, France Bleu journalist Alexandre Chassignon, elected SNJ to the CSE, deplores a lack of coordination under the shared banner: “It will soon be three years since the common application has existed, and we still do not have editorial consistency between the journalists of France Bleu and France 3.”

According to Raoul Advocat, SNJ union delegate at the France 3 central office, this name change is “a way of getting ahead of government decisions” concerning a merger of public media. He fears that the merger of the two media will be motivated by potential savings in the long term. This transformation takes place in a difficult economic context for public broadcasting. The government is preparing to cut 45 million euros from its budget, and to postpone the envelope dedicated to the rapprochement between France Télévisions and Radio France. The distribution of the reduction in credits between the different public media is still unknown, and the method of financing for 2025 is still under discussion. The Senate voted on October 23 for a fraction of VAT to continue to be allocated to public broadcasting. This law will be discussed in the National Assembly on November 19. “The worst thing is the lack of visibility on the future of our media”advances for his part Xavier Riboulet.