Baptiste Rossi, 32, who has served as Emmanuel Macron's speechwriter for several years, is preparing to leave the Élysée Palace to join France Télévisions. The young writer has been recruited by Delphine Ernotte to fill the strategic position of chief of staff to the president of the public broadcasting group. He is also expected to join the executive committee of France Télévisions, thus placing one of the president's close associates at the heart of the public service.
A recruitment process in the midst of turmoil
This recruitment comes as the presidential term draws to a close and several Elysée Palace staff members are reassessing their career paths. It also occurs at a delicate time for France Télévisions, shaken by the Alloncle inquiry, which has put the group under pressure. Delphine Ernotte's choice to bring on board a presidential speechwriter raises questions about the relationship between political power and public broadcasting.
Baptiste Rossi, a graduate of Sciences Po and ENA, was spotted early on by Bernard-Henri Lévy, who hired him at La Règle du Jeu and described him as "brilliant." Even before joining the Élysée Palace staff, he had published two novels with Grasset before the age of 23, an atypical career path within the presidential entourage. This literary and political background makes him a unique advisor, now called upon to manage the decision-making apparatus of a media group facing numerous challenges.
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I've recently been thinking about the National Rally's (RN) plan, which, if it came to power, would not only abolish the National Center for Cinema (CNC) but also privatize public broadcasting. After doing some research, I discovered that the RN wouldn't just want to privatize the television channels France 2, France 3, France 4, and France 5—some of which would simply disappear (only ARTE, Franceinfo, and France 24 would be retained)—but that it would also consider privatizing Radio France. Thinking about France Culture, I realized that this would mean its complete disappearance. Indeed, what company would want to buy a cultural radio station broadcasting hours of archival footage on 60s cinema, programs about the role of animals in the Middle Ages, or even highlighting the importance of the discovery of the Higgs boson? And what advertisements could be broadcast on a privatized cultural radio station, apart from perhaps, on alternate days, those for the latest novels by Virginie Grimaldi or Guillaume Musso? Of course, National Rally (RN) supporters probably don't constitute the bulk of France Culture's audience; some may not even be familiar with the station. However, depriving France of a cultural radio station (not to mention other issues) would seem to me to be a real step backward. Currently, perhaps a third of France Culture's airtime has rather progressive content—perhaps too much—but this could change and be toned down. In any case, it's clear that thanks to the RN, France would become a country without a cultural radio station, since culture doesn't seem to be the RN's cup of tea, and more generally, the only country without public broadcasting, with all the imaginable consequences. And this way the RN envisions treating public broadcasting and culture is interesting insofar as it suggests that it would commit many other excesses in many other areas.