The Élysée has been repeating this for a week in response to those who accuse Emmanuel Macron of wanting to sort the ” good “ of the ” bad “ media in the name of the fight against fake news: it is not up to the State to verify the information. And yet, it is partly he who finances it… In France, this involves in particular public broadcasting (4 billion euros per year) and aid to the press (175.2 million euros in 2024). But also – a lesser known fact – abroad, as part of the policy relating to inclusive development and the fight against global inequalities.
In 2024, Canal France International (CFI), a public agency attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Europe, has mobilized nearly 18 million euros to carry out around forty projects for the benefit of media development in around sixty countries – in Africa, the Arab world, Asia and even Eastern Europe. His mission? Fight against disinformation or promote the defense of equality between women and men, protection of the environment and democracy, explains CFI on its site.
French and European funds
“Improving living conditions in a country cannot be achieved without the guarantee of reliable, independent and verified information”we can still read there. The agency, created in 1989 by the Ministry of Cooperation to ensure the free broadcasting of television programs in French-speaking Africa, today relies mainly on financial support from the Quai d’Orsay, the European Union and the French Development Agency (AFD), which clearly does not have a monopoly when it comes to distributing public money abroad, as its critics complain.
Thanks to these grants, in recent years, the CFI has – among other things – supported the professionalization of 25 Palestinian journalists for a year through training and mentoring for 110,000 euros – with the production of two radio spots to promote equality between men and women. But also fought against “misinfox” in the Sahel for 18 months for 334,000 euros by supporting African fact-checking organizations, or even raised awareness in Gambia, Guinea, Niger, Mauritania about the fate of migrants “in order to reach the public in a manner more consistent with respect for human rights and the dignity of the person” (936,000 euros). The information is definitely worth its weight in gold.
