An internal report commissioned by Radio France International management has proposed a merger with international news channel France 24 within two years.
The move would be made in three stages, beginning with the co-operation of the two news teams, the bringing together of the staff on a single site, and finally the merger of the teams and statutes into a new company. Most controversially, the report’s authors call for the creation of a new brand for the merged organization.
RFI management have stressed that the views contained within the report are those of its authors rather than the management itself.
There has been underlying tension between the two organizations since France 24’s launch one year ago. RFI’s activities are centred on international radio broadcasts in French, English and other languages.
A third international broadcaster, TV5 Monde, brings together French language culture and entertainment and also has elements of news within its schedule.