Around 300 artists and public figures have thrown their support behind a strike at Radio France, according to humanite.fr. The walkout is a protest against the planned arrival of Charles Sapin, an editor at the magazine Valeurs Actuelles, at the public broadcaster's France Inter station.
The signatories described the appointment as a symbol of racist speech being normalized, humanite.fr reported. The dispute has left France Inter unsettled, according to Le Figaro, which described the station as thrown off balance by the backlash. BFM reported that 300 personalities signed an open letter opposing Sapin's move to France Inter, quoting one figure's reaction of shock at the news.
Sud Ouest published an editorial under the headline "Scrambled airwaves on France Inter," framing the episode as a broader problem for the network. Le HuffPost placed the arrivals of Sapin and of another figure, Bastié, in a wider context, calling them the public audiovisual sector's answer to a game that was lost in advance.
The reporting so far centers on the reaction rather than on any decision by Radio France management. The names of the artists who signed, the exact wording of their statement, and the broadcaster's response are not detailed in the material available.
What to watch next: whether Radio France or France Inter addresses the protest directly, and whether Sapin's planned arrival proceeds as reported.
