ABSTRACT
Broadcasting has been a topic of fierce political controversy in France since at least the Second World War. This is still the case today, with different aspects of the Socialist government’s policy on the broadcasting media under attack from various quarters including among others the Gaullist-Giscardian opposition, the Communist Party, large sections of the pre-dominantly right-wing press and assorted pressure groups ranging from local radio operators to viewers’ associations. Familiar territory is often reploughed, notably the question of government control of news output. But this reassuring sense of continuity is somewhat misleading, for the debate on broadcasting has not remained static. While many issues (control, financing and programming, for example) are scarcely original, the techno-logical and political environments in which the current debate is taking place have altered dramatically over the past few years.
