France Médias Monde (FMM)

France Médias Monde is France’s international public-service broadcasting company, headquartered at Issy-les-Moulineaux. Established in April 2008 as Audiovisuel extérieur de la France, it acquired national programme company status under the law of 5 March 2009 and adopted its present name in 2013. It brings together France 24, RFI and Monte Carlo Doualiya. Marie-Christine Saragosse has led the company since October 2012.

Media assets

Television: France 24, with news services in French, English, Arabic and Spanish

Radio and digital: RFI, producing content in French and seventeen other languages across its radio and digital services, and Monte Carlo Doualiya in Arabic

Other digital services: ZOA, alongside participation in the ENTR and InfoMigrants partnerships

Subsidiary: CFI, the media development agency, wholly owned by France Médias Monde since 2017

Holding: 11.97 per cent of TV5MONDE

The group expanded its regional and digital production during the review period. Its Beirut newsroom was inaugurated on 27 February 2025 to produce Arabic-language digital content for France 24 and Monte Carlo Doualiya. ZOA, a digital service for young francophone African audiences, launched from Dakar on 1 October 2025.

RFI launched an Armenian-language service on 26 May 2026, bringing its offer to French and seventeen other languages. The Armenian service is distributed through social media, so the language total should not be read as a count of conventional radio services.

Ownership and governance

France Médias Monde is a société anonyme wholly owned by the French state.

Article 47-3 of the broadcasting law provides for a 15-member Board of Directors comprising the President and Chief Executive; five state representatives; five independent members appointed by Arcom; one National Assembly member and one senator, designated by their respective cultural affairs committees; and two elected staff representatives. The Arcom-appointed members serve as independent members selected for their expertise.

Arcom appoints the President and Chief Executive. The regulator reappointed Marie-Christine Saragosse on 11 January 2023 for a third five-year term beginning on 23 April 2023 and running to 2028. The statutory appointment procedure requires a reasoned decision based on competence, experience and the candidate’s strategic project.

France Médias Monde remains outside the proposed France Médias holding company. The National Assembly rejected the reform bill on 30 June 2025. The Senate adopted an amended version on 11 July 2025 and returned it to the Assembly for a second reading, and the legislative record reviewed for this update shows no subsequent enactment. The Senate text would place France Télévisions, Radio France and INA under the holding while retaining France Médias Monde under direct state ownership.

Source of funding and budget

France Médias Monde is financed predominantly through public allocations, supplemented by advertising, commercial activities and other project income. Following the abolition of the television licence fee in 2022, its principal public funding comes from an earmarked share of VAT receipts, allocated through Programme 844 of the Avances à l’audiovisuel public account. Additional support comes from the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and European funding programmes.

The 2025 accounts, approved by the Board on 12 May 2026, show a net surplus of EUR 0.2 million, compared with the EUR 4.9 million deficit forecast in the initial budget. The company reported public funding of EUR 278.7 million excluding compensation for the tax effects of the licence fee’s abolition. It attributed the improved result to expenditure controls, additional parliamentary funding and exceptional foreign ministry support for work against disinformation.

The 2026 budget targets a balanced result. Approved by the Board on 11 December 2025, it provides:

• EUR 273.1 million in the base public allocation, unchanged from 2025
• EUR 30.8 million in compensation for tax effects arising from the abolition of the licence fee
• EUR 14.9 million in additional foreign ministry funding through Programme 209, including EUR 4.9 million for four regional development projects and EUR 10 million supporting production and distribution against disinformation

The base allocation and tax compensation together amount to approximately EUR 303.9 million. The Finance Act of 19 February 2026 subsequently authorised EUR 303,883,551 for France Médias Monde under the public broadcasting account. Tax compensation offsets additional fiscal costs and should be distinguished from resources available for expanding editorial activity.

Earlier funding included a conditional transformation component, and the outturn differed from the commitment. The original 2024 budget envisaged EUR 5 million tied to information and digital development objectives; the subsequent government performance report records EUR 1.4 million actually received through the transformation programme in 2024.

Editorial independence

Article 43-11 of Law No. 86-1067 requires public broadcasters, including France Médias Monde, to ensure honesty, independence and pluralism in information. The company’s statutory remit also specifies independence from political power.

France Médias Monde publishes a journalists’ ethics charter, adopted on 12 July 2017, addressing professional verification, independence, protection of sources, treatment of individuals, conflict coverage and digital publishing. It was developed with management, journalists’ societies and staff representatives.

An independent five-member committee has operated since 2017, the Comité relatif à l’honnêteté, à l’indépendance et au pluralisme de l’information et des programmes. Its members are appointed for three years by the Board, with state representatives excluded from the appointment vote. It accepts audience complaints, may investigate matters on its own initiative and must notify Arcom of potential breaches of the principles within its remit.

The group also maintains an ethics commission involving management and journalists’ representatives, a published corrections policy and an audience mediator, Jean-Pierre Constantin.

Distribution restrictions remain a substantial external pressure. In February 2026 the group continued to report the suspension of RFI and France 24 in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, while noting that audiences still accessed their journalism through digital platforms.

AI and digital policy

France Médias Monde publishes an editorial AI guide, adopted in November 2023 and revised in May and December 2025. It requires human decisions and validation throughout the process: AI-assisted content must undergo review, verification and editorial approval before publication or broadcast.

The guide prohibits photorealistic AI-generated images, misleading realistic synthetic material and the recreation of journalists’ or public figures’ voices or appearances. It requires audience disclosure for predominantly AI-written texts, texts translated entirely by AI and AI-generated illustrations or illustrative videos, including where editorial validation has occurred. It also sets safeguards for confidential information, sources and copyright.

Operational adoption is documented. The group deployed an internal AI platform in 2025 and reports using automated transcription, translation and subtitling under editorial supervision. An internal steering committee coordinates the technology’s development across editorial, digital and technical departments.

Classification rationale

France Médias Monde remains classified Independent State-Funded and State-Managed/Owned (ISFM).

It is wholly state-owned, with governance established by law and a board combining state and parliamentary representatives, independent members appointed by Arcom and elected staff representatives. Arcom appoints the President and Chief Executive.

It is predominantly state-funded, through the earmarked VAT allocation and additional public grants. Annual appropriations and funding conditions remain relevant to assessing its financial autonomy.

Its editorial independence is supported by statutory requirements and documented accountability mechanisms, including the journalists’ charter, the independent ethics committee, the audience mediator and externally assessed Journalism Trust Initiative certification. The sources reviewed do not establish direct government direction of routine editorial decisions. State ownership and funding nevertheless warrant continuing scrutiny of how those safeguards operate in practice.

September 2026