ABSTRACT
One of the early reforms of the new conservative administration which governed France between 1986 and 1988 was a reorganization of broadcasting, the fifth major piece of legislation on this topic since the 1964 statute which established the ORTF. In line with the tradition of Fifth Republic politics in the field of audiovisual policy, the re-election of a government of the Right immediately called into question the Socialist administration’s 1982 reform of radio and television. Indeed, if on returning to power in 1986 the Right had not introduced a new broadcasting statute, this would have been evidence of a huge change in the culture and behaviour of the political elites in France.
