France Inter staff maintain strike over controversial editorial

Staff at the public broadcaster Radio France have voted to maintain a strike scheduled for September 21, rejecting a proposal from France Inter management to alter the format of a controversial weekly editorial.

The dispute centers on the recruitment of Charles Sapin, the deputy editor of the conservative magazine Valeurs actuelles, who has begun delivering a political editorial on France Inter. While management proposed transforming the segment into a contradictory debate to ensure pluralism, staff members rejected the offer during a general assembly.

Union sources argue that the issue is not the format of the segment, but the association of France Inter with Valeurs actuelles, which they claim provides the publication with a “certificate of respectability.” Critics point to the magazine’s history of legal convictions for racist insults and its ties to billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin as reasons for their opposition.