Paris (AFP)

First woman appointed at the head of France Televisions and first director renewed for a second term: by choosing to renew Delphine Ernotte in her functions, preferring her to seven other candidates, the CSA chose "stability".

"Managing France Télévisions is a privilege, an honor, a responsibility, but above all for me the chance to contribute to the mission of this company, to make it, with all men and women, a means of emancipation for all" , the leader said Tuesday during her hearing at the CSA.

Ms. Ernotte, soon to be 54 years old and from the telecoms world, succeeded Rémy Pflimlin in 2015. She is re-elected until 2025.

"This is an opportunity to recall that the appointment by the CSA, by an independent public authority, has virtues", the president of the CSA, Roch-Olivier Maistre, told AFP, considering that "one of the important arguments are that it is a company which has never known stability, unlike its competitors ".

“In this period when the competitive environment is changing very quickly, having stability was important,” he continues.

The CSA had received 12 applications, eight of which had been deemed admissible, including those of Christopher Baldelli, former boss of RTL who also headed France 2 and Jean-Paul Philippot, boss of the Belgian audiovisual group RTBF.

Partly public hearings were held Monday and Tuesday before six members of the Council called to vote by majority.

- "Rejuvenated, renovated and diversified" -

A transparent procedure to avoid the hiccups of the previous appointment, much criticized for its opacity and even challenged in court by unions of the group.

In addition to continuity, the CSA, which welcomed the balance sheet and management of Delphine Ernotte at the start of the year, was based on the commitments made by Delphine Ernotte in terms of editorial and diversity, explains Roch-Olivier Maistre.

"What was important was the desire to address all French people and represent them in the richness of their diversity. We noted the commitments she made to us," he continues.

Very committed to gender equality, the leader promised that she wanted "a rejuvenated, renovated and diversified public service", with a goal of equality for the experts invited to the stage, 30% of women directors by 2021 and promised to go further in terms of diversity, in particular by setting up a dedicated directory on the same model as that which exists with the experts.

The leader presented a long series of measures: creation of a think tank and general states "to imagine the television of tomorrow", a new way of filming culture to make it "as alive as a sporting event", refocus France 4 on education and France 5 on ecological awareness, create a digital Olympic channel for the 2024 Olympics, transform france.tv and franceinfo into social media ...

Among the urgent files: the closure of France 4, scheduled for August like that of France ô, but which it wishes to maintain.

While the health crisis should lead to an operating loss of 22 million euros for the group, she warned that the drop in public resources was "too strong" for 2021 and indicated that she wanted if she is re-elected "to discuss with the shareholder of the transition from 2021 to 2022 ", without contesting the" final trajectory "set by the State.

It will also have to carry out the plan to cut 900 jobs, which could be called into question due to a lack of volunteers, according to Serge Cimino, SNJ representative at France Televisions, who had indicated the day before that only 800 candidates had volunteered. in plan for a target of 2000.

Finally, it could have to account for the contract concluded with the production company of Nagui, of 100 million euros for 2017 to 2020, with particularly advantageous clauses according to Mediapart, a "shameful" contract which "reveals a concern of governance ", according to Member of Parliament Frédérique Dumas.

© 2020 AFP