Commission of inquiry on public broadcasting: what to remember from the hearing of Delphine Ernotte

One last one for the road. After 5 months of work and 230 people summoned, the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry into the neutrality, operation and financing of public broadcasting ended on Wednesday after more than 4 hours of hearing from Delphine Ernotte.

With a little taste of déjà vu since the president of France Télévisions had already been interviewed at the beginning of December. But also because the hearing was punctuated by strong tensions between the media rapporteur, the Ciottist deputy Charles-Henri Alloncle and the other members of the commission. In his introduction, President Jérémie Patrier-Leitus said he regretted that “the passing of arms” had received more attention than the “substantive work”.

4-color pen in hand, the leader defended a strong public audiovisual sector, stressing that its privatization found “no defender” in this commission, apart from the businessman Vincent Bolloré.

“France Télévisions costs the French a little less than 3 euros per month, compared to 4 in 2015”

Delphine Ernotte recalls that the weight of her sector. “The audiovisual industry in France is more than the automobile and pharmaceutical industries combined,” she emphasizes.

And defends its good budgetary management with a budget down by 600 million euros taking into account inflation since his arrival in 2015, when Charles Alloncle estimates that it has increased by 140 million euros, counting advertising revenue. “France Télévisions costs the French a little less than 3 euros per month, compared to 4 euros in 2015,” she says, recalling that 70% of its 9,000 employees work overseas and in the regions.

Questioned about the accusations of Jacques Cardoze, the former presenter of “Complément d’investigation”, on the supposed dismissals of employees who were victims of “sexual assault”, the manager belched: “Send me the names! Give me the facts! Grab me! », she gets carried away, doubting the revelations of Jacques Cardoze 16 or 17 years after the alleged facts.

Questioned at length about her executives who left her company to join production companies which provide programs to the public group, the manager denies any “conflict of interest”. But it promises to introduce non-competition clauses in contracts to protect against it, as is done in other sectors. She just warns that the mechanism will be expensive.

In the case of Arnaud Ngatcha, director of Special Operations at France Télévisions who became deputy to Paris City Hall, she ensures that she respects the legislation on local elected officials and encourages the MP to “change the law” if he wants to avoid this type of double hat, accusing Alloncle of “throwing away” France Télévisions employees.

Five months of tense debates finally closed

Regarding his dispute with Rachida Dati who believed that the magazine “Complément d’investigation” had tried to pay a member of her family in exchange for incriminating testimony, Christophe Tardieu, the secretary general of France Télévisions believes that the evidence promised by the former minister “never came”.

“We didn’t bribe anyone. (…) There is not a shadow of a doubt,” adds Delphine Ernotte.

At the end of more than four hours of hearing, she took the floor one last time for a few words on the parliamentary commission of inquiry, its debates and the attacks suffered by public broadcasting in the context of its hearings: “I know the wounds that this could have caused”, she said, visibly moved, while addressing the group’s employees at the end of what she calls “this trying period”. A conclusion after five months of tense debates.