Radio France strike keeps Charles Sapin's France Inter editorial off air
All representative unions called a two-day stoppage against a weekly slot for the Valeurs Actuelles deputy editor. France Inter's morning show was replaced by music on Monday.
Paris2 min read
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Radio France entered a second day of strike on Monday against a weekly political editorial on France Inter given to Charles Sapin, deputy editor of Valeurs Actuelles. The inter-union call came from CFDT, CGT, FO, SNJ, SUD and Unsa and covered the whole public radio group. France Inter, Franceinfo and France Culture all ran reduced schedules. France Musique was largely untouched.
On France Inter, the country's most-listened radio station, the morning programme of Florence Paracuellos and Benjamin Duhamel did not air. Listeners heard recorded music, including Jeanne Moreau's India Song, Miossec and the rap group 113, broken by a looped apology. The text said the unions had asked for the Valeurs Actuelles editorial to be withdrawn and that the station could not broadcast its usual programmes.
Sapin's slot, about two and a half minutes, was already dropped on Sunday. He moved this summer from Le Point to Valeurs Actuelles. Management has defended the booking as pluralism ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Staff passed a motion on 2 September calling the magazine incompatible with public service and recording a categorical refusal.
Valeurs Actuelles sits on the hard right of the French press. Unions say a deputy editor from that title should not have a reserved political minute on a public frequency funded by the licence-style contribution. Management says a public broadcaster that shuts out that part of the electorate is not plural. Both arguments will be reused until the 2027 campaign, which current polls put on a track toward Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Melenchon.
The strike is a labour fact, not a court fact. Radio France can keep the slot. Staff can keep walking out on the mornings it is scheduled. The cost is audience on the first radio in the country and a visible split inside the Maison Ronde at a moment when the presidential field is already polarised.
Sunday's stoppage hit Inter hardest and left the other stations closer to normal. Monday spread the gaps to Franceinfo and France Culture. That pattern suggests the strike is holding among news staff more than among music and specialist teams. No figure for participation has been published by the group.
Sapin himself has not been the voice on air this week. The fight is about whether he will be. If the editorial returns next week without a climbdown, another notice will follow. If management pulls the slot, the unions will claim a defence of the public brief. The listener in the meantime has a morning playlist and a sentence of apology where the news used to start.
