After J. D. Vance accused European elites of threatening free speech on the continent, France went out of its way to prove him right by shutting down a right-wing TV channel.
The French Council of State has just confirmed its closure of the right-wing TV channel C8, setting a dangerous precedent of state censorship in the media. Protests are growing from public figures who are concerned about the increasing and institutionalised restrictions on freedom of expression.
The C8 channel, owned by the Catholic billionaire Vincent Bolloré, had been on probation for several weeks following a decision by the media regulatory authority, ARCOM, to withdraw its broadcasting licence. The channel had attempted an administrative appeal, which has now been rejected by the Council of State. It will cease broadcasting definitively on the evening of February 28th.
Until now, C8 occupied a privileged place in the French audiovisual landscape. The Canal+ group, owned by Vincent Bolloré and operator of the channel, denounced a decision
unprecedented in the history of DTT [Digital Terrestrial Television], leading to the outright ousting of the C8 channel, which has been part of the audiovisual landscape for nearly 20 years, always ranking as the leading DTT channel and attracting more than 9 million cumulative viewers every day.
One of the channel’s star presenters, Cyril Hanouna, a Frenchman of Lebanese origin, was the target of virulent attacks from the Left, who accused him of having ‘rolled out the red carpet for far-right ideas’ on his programmes. He continues his work as a columnist on the radio station Europe 1, which also belongs to Bolloré’s group. On Wednesday, February 19th, he hosted Bartolomé Lenoir, a UDR deputy—allied to the Rassemblement National (RN)—who shared his concerns with listeners:
The closure of C8 opens a major Pandora’s box for freedom of expression in France.
Snip.
On the side of the RN, Marine Le Pen denounced “the threats that weigh heavily on pluralism and freedom of opinion.” “The cessation of activity of C8 is a terrible regression and a worrying decision that proves the Ayatollahs of single-thought, the diktats of a sectarian left that only wants to see and hear one voice, that of the system,” explained the leader of the RN deputies in a message on X.
European elite sure seem bound and determined to suppress any “unapproved” non-leftwing thoughts. I wonder if audits of France’s budget would reveal as much graft and fraud being raked off by leftwing politicians and entities as DOGE has discovered in the U.S. budget…
(Hat tip: Michael Heaver on YouTube.)