{"id":435396,"date":"2026-05-19T18:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/435396\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T18:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:24:08","slug":"french-govt-slams-disproportionate-canal-riposte-to-anti-bollore-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/435396\/","title":{"rendered":"French govt slams ‘disproportionate’ Canal+ riposte to anti-Bollore petition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Culture Minister Catherine Pegard described the comments by Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada, made during the Cannes Film Festival, as “disproportionate” and said she understood the concerns of signatories.<\/p>\n

The petition, initially signed by 600 industry professionals, urged a mobilisation against “the growing grip of the far right” on the film industry under the influence of Bollore and the Canal+ group.<\/p>\n

Signatories included French star Juliette Binoche as well as director Arthur Harari, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” in 2023, as well as that film’s prominent French star Swann Arlaud.<\/p>\n

“This company’s major role in cinema gives it a voice that matters,” Pegard told parliament, referring to Canal+.<\/p>\n

“I regret that the response — disproportionate to say the least given to the very real concerns that have been expressed — is only fuelling them,” she added.<\/p>\n

The minister said she had “heard the emotion, the concern being expressed in the film industry” and voiced hope that “reason and dialogue will prevail over threats”.<\/p>\n

Upheaval<\/p>\n

Saada, speaking on Sunday, had described the petition “as an injustice toward the Canal+ teams”.<\/p>\n

He added: “I will no longer work with and I no longer want Canal to work with the people who signed that petition.”<\/p>\n

\"France's<\/p>\n

France’s Culture Minister Catherine Pegard slammed the response by Canal+ \u00a9 Anne-Christine POUJOULAT \/ AFP <\/p>\n

The uproar mirrors similar upheaval in the media and publishing worlds where Bollore, a conservative close to far-right politicians, is reshaping businesses he controls, from television channels to publishing houses.<\/p>\n

In a sign of Bollore’s divisive reputation, the Canal+ logo was booed in Cannes at some screenings this year, including for the opening film “The Electric Kiss”.<\/p>\n

Last month, more than 100 authors at the Bollore-owned Grasset publishing group, home to some of the biggest names in French literature, said they would leave after the ousting of its long-time CEO.<\/p>\n

The aggressive expansion into the French media in recent years of the billionaire — a devout Catholic who made his money in logistics — has been cheered by conservatives as rebalancing what they see as long-standing left-wing bias. <\/p>\n

Bollore’s media stable now includes widely followed outlets including the CNews rolling news channel and Europe 1 radio, whose voices will be key in 2027 presidential elections where the far-right of Marine Le Pen scents its best ever chance of winning the Elysee.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Culture Minister Catherine Pegard described the comments by Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada, made during the Cannes Film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-435396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}