From 9-11 June 2026, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) coalition and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) conducted a joint mission to France to assess the current state of media freedom in the country. This statement presents the mission’s preliminary findings.
The mission was led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and joined by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ARTICLE 19 Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and the International Press Institute (IPI). The mission was organised with the support of local partners, the journalists’ trade unions SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes, as well as the French Observatory on Violations of Press Freedom (OFALP), official partner of the MFRR.
The delegation met with journalists, legal experts, civil society organisations, the media regulator, and government officials, including representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Interior.
Although the mission plans to conduct additional meetings, we are sharing preliminary findings and conclusions from the three days of in-person discussions in Paris. These conclusions will be expanded on in a mission report to be published in September 2026.
Growing concentration of media ownership, abusive legal proceedings, and threats to journalists’ safety
Media freedom in France is at a critical juncture ahead of the 2027 French presidential election. The free press is under mounting pressure, fuelled by growing media ownership concentration, pressures on editorial independence from billionaire owners, the harassment of journalists through strategic lawsuits, insufficient legal safeguards to protect their rights and sources, and threats to reporters’ physical safety. The delegation also observed a profession in turmoil. Amidst more than a thousand job cuts announced since the beginning of 2026, increasing job insecurity — including media employees being replaced by artificial intelligence agents — and the cancellation of programmes due to budget restrictions and political pressure, journalists’ unions will organise a mobilisation on 18 June in Paris.
As media freedom in the country is steadily deteriorating, with 48 press freedom violations documented on the Mapping Media Freedom platform since the beginning of the year, the mission calls on the authorities to take urgent measures to enforce the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), and provide robust safeguards to protect the safety of journalists. Legal inertia has prevented the modernisation of media concentration law and journalists’ source protection, leaving them outdated and ineffective.
Implementation of EMFA and challenges facing the French media landscape
The European Media Freedom Act has been in effect since August 2025. However, its full implementation is stalled in France. The main reason, as discussed by the mission representatives, is that the audio-visual regulator, Arcom, does not have an official mandate to regulate the industry in its entirety, particularly the print and online press. At the same time, there is no clear timeline for the relevant laws to be adopted, and the current schedule for the parliamentary procedures does not include any bill that addresses EMFA implementation.
The full application of the EMFA is particularly relevant in the context of the upcoming 2027 presidential elections, which brings to the fore the importance of key topics raised throughout the mission: the protection of the editorial and financial independence of public service media, increased media ownership concentration and its negative effects on media pluralism, the protection of sources, and a general maintenance of a healthy media ecosystem in France.
Threats to public service media
At a time when public and transparent reporting are most needed, public service media have not emerged unscathed from the parliamentary inquiry into its neutrality, operations and funding. The inquiry was a clear effort to diminish and politically discredit the value of public service media. The report of MP Charles Alloncle, which contributed to a climate of distrust in public media, was criticised for lacking objectivity and issuing recommendations that go against the EMFA.
Initiatives including the counter-report by La Scam and analysis by Un bout Des Médias have offered insights into the levels of harm such politically-coloured reports can cause to media pluralism and freedom of the press. However, while Arcom has published a study on impartiality of broadcasters in France, the country still lacks an official initiative that provides independent insights into the level of threats facing public service media.
The parliamentary commission inquiry marks yet another setback for France Télévisions, which was already in a precarious position following unprecedented budget cuts in 2025. These cuts led to layoffs, a reduction in programming, and growing fears of political interference in editorial content – all while funding became the subject of increasingly heated debate.
Media concentration and increasing political pressure on editorial independence
France’s primary legislative framework governing media concentration – the Law of 30 September 1986 on the freedom of communication (Loi Léotard) – is widely seen as outdated and inadequate amid the emergence of today’s digital, multi-platform conglomerates. The mission has concluded that the prolonged failure to modernise this framework is the deep structural problem underpinning the deterioration of press freedom in France. Concentrated ownership in the hands of a small number of industrial billionaires lies at the centre of the dangers facing media pluralism, which includes the weaponisation of information to serve specific economic and political interests, the shaping of public debate according to owners’ agendas, and even direct interference with editorial policy and the dismissal of journalists who do not comply. In 2025, RSF documented that hundreds of journalists at Vincent Bolloré-owned outlets were subject to confidentiality clauses preventing them from speaking publicly about editorial conditions.
The already high level of media concentration in France continues to increase with the consolidation of media conglomerates such as Vincent Bolloré’s. Six industrial groups now control the majority of France’s national media landscape. Bolloré’s Vivendi empire is the most prominent example, and it encompasses CNews, Canal+, Europe 1, the Journal du Dimanche, Paris Match, and Prisma Media – France’s largest magazine group. The empire extends to advertising and communications through the Havas media company, music, retail, publishing, and journalism education. The mission concluded that such vertical integration within a single industrial group represents a vast and widely concerning concentration of influence.
Bolloré’s empire also stands out for his support for politically contentious, extreme views, and direct interference over newsroom editorial policies, raising concerns over the mainstreaming of far-right ideas within the French media landscape.
On a regional scale, the concentration in the hands of a few large press groups (Ebra, Centre-France, Sud-Ouest, Ouest-France, Rossel France, La Dépêche) plays a role in the increased level of information deserts and, consequently, in the weakening of media pluralism, potentially with a negative reflection on election results.
To tackle this, the mission welcomes the proposal of the law on market concentration introduced by MP Sophie Taillé-Polian and adopted by the National Assembly’s Cultural Affairs Committee in February 2026. We call on the National Assembly to prioritise the adoption of a strong anti-monopoly law to protect and strengthen media pluralism in France.
Finally, Article 22 of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) requires France to implement a mechanism to assess media acquisitions that risk affecting pluralism. Regrettably, France has not established such a mechanism yet.
During a meeting with the French media regulator Arcom, the delegation addressed the need for more transparency in its policies. While its usual approach is to find a middle ground by incorporating criticism in advance and balancing public views, the mission stressed that the regulations should be grounded in law and European regulation, most prominently the EMFA.
The mission partners call on French authorities to implement the EMFA’s provisions relating to media ownership without further delay, apply them to acquisitions completed since August 2025, and use them to assess, and where necessary, block acquisitions currently underway.
Safety of media professionals increasingly at risk
The delegation expressed deep concern to the Ministry of Interior regarding journalist safety, citing a persistent failure to implement the National Law Enforcement Plan (SNMO) on the ground. Whether due to a lack of political will, insufficient knowledge, or inadequate resources, the consequences are clear: the delegation documented recurring assaults on journalists by law enforcement, often while the reporters were clearly identified. Since 2025, at least 20 journalists have been assaulted, seven of whom sustained serious injuries. This includes the case of Enzo Rabouy, who was struck in the head with a stick by an officer and left unconscious while filming clashes from a distance after the UEFA Champions League football final in Paris. Although the Ministry acknowledged this incident, it is yet another incident involving the excessive use of force by law enforcement.
During the meeting, the delegation heard several statements that suggested the responsibility for the attacks lay with journalists. The delegation reiterated that journalists have no obligation to visibly identify themselves, particularly as many fear that doing so increases their risk of being targeted by protesters. While journalists must take appropriate safety precautions, this does not excuse law enforcement’s use of excessive force.
The mission partners were further alarmed by reports that administrative sanctions for police misconduct are in practice delayed, pending final court rulings. Beyond the questionable legality of these reported practices, the Ministry of Interior failed to provide clear explanations for how such cases are handled. The National Plan on Urban Violence (SNVU) presented in August 2025 was also downgraded from a formal national strategy to an operational guide (GOVU), failing to recognise the special status of the press and clarify their rights.
The increasing hostility journalists face is also evidenced by the numerous verbal threats, including death threats, and physical attacks they receive from private individuals.
The mission has confirmed our monitoring conclusions by demonstrating how freelancers face increasing precariousness and uncertainty, especially when they are subjected to violence. Often, they are left alone to fend for themselves and their families, while trying to work through the trauma of enduring pressure and attacks on their safety. With little protection from newsrooms, and a lack of state assistance, freelancers and especially exiled and displaced journalists face significant obstacles in continuing their work. The mission emphasises the need for a consistent support to freelancers and journalists in exile that would ensure their wellbeing, security, and the continuation of their work.
Weak legislation on the protection of sources
Another pressing issue affecting media freedom in France is the insufficient protection of journalists’ sources, which in some cases deters individuals from assisting the press in informing the public on matters of public interest. The journalists whom the mission encountered point out three sets of demands towards authorities in France, including: a reform of the Law on the protection of sources and the reform of 2021 media law, with strong protection against surveillance of journalists and their sources.
Our organisations therefore call on the French authorities to establish effective systems of support for journalists and their sources through national protection mechanisms such as the Netherlands’ Persveilig, as well as providing additional and individualised support in the most egregious cases.
Abusive lawsuits and weak transposition of the Anti-SLAPP directive
Vexatious litigation has long been one of the major threats to press freedom in France. While the French government initially considered a broader transposition of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive, spending two years drafting legislation based on recommendations from the États généraux de l’information (EGI), it adopted a decree on 5 May 2026 without consulting civil society or other stakeholders.
Although the decree extends certain protections to domestic cases and is not limited to cross-border lawsuits, it has been widely criticised as insufficient, inadequate, and incapable of addressing the problem of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) effectively. Most concerningly, the decree applies only to civil proceedings. Criminal defamation cases, which constitute a significant proportion of the defamation lawsuits faced by media organisations and journalists, are excluded from the new protections. As a result, a vast number of SLAPPs remain outside the scope of the safeguards introduced by the decree.
Furthermore, several key reforms that had been proposed during the initial drafting process were ultimately excluded from the decree, including stronger sanctions against SLAPP claimants, a reversal of the burden of proof, and measures addressing private international law issues. Arguably, such a limited transposition of the Directive reflects a lack of political will to take meaningful action against SLAPPs.
The delegation will meet with the Ministry of Justice on 1 July to further discuss the increasing use of defamation lawsuits and recommendations for legislative reform.
The mission partners will publish a report outlining its findings and providing recommendations to the French authorities. It will also be shared with the Council of Europe, European Union, and international organisations.