Petition for the Independence and Survival of Agence France-Presse

Unions in Parliamentary Hearings; New Calls to Preserve AFP Statutes

Submitted by SOS-AFP on Thu, 10/12/2009 - 22:02

December 8: The French National Assembly's Cultural Affairs Committee publishes the full account of hearings attended by the unions and CEO Pierre Louette. Meanwhile the centrist MoDem party comes out in favour of preserving our statutes

The Cultural Affairs Committee auditioned union representatives, as well as CEO Pierre Louette, on December 2nd

Useful links (in French): full account in HTML - printable PDF version for download (408 Kb)

Further info: Who's on the committee - Text of the Louette plan on the web site of the Association to Defend the Independence of AFP.

Latest political statements

During its conference on December 4, 5 and 6 François Bayrou's Mouvement Démocrate (MoDem ) included a statement on AFP's future in its overall programme

Extract from section 5.3 "Ensuring a free and humanist supply of news" :

"The independence of Agence France Presse, which plays an essential role, notably for France's regional daily papers and is also vital for France's presence around the world, must be ensured, given that the temptation to reduce
its influence, or even to place it under the control of private interests, is again surfacing. There is no reason to turn AFP into a joint-stock company, even one in which the capital is mainly held by the state

Full text of the MoDem programme on the party's web site

Communist leader Marie-George Buffet Writes to the Culture Minister

On November 20, following a meeting with AFP union reps, the national secretary of the French Communist Party , who is also an MP for Seine-Saint-Denis region near Paris , wrote to Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand to express concern about the government's plans for Agence France-Presse

An extract from her letter :"The fundamental question is to ask ourselves what we want for the press in our country. Do we want an independent, quality press which provides intellectual sustenance and is capable of promoting critical thinking among our fellow-citizens, or a press which is subject to pressures for profitability from shareholders that are incompatible with its missions? For me, minister, the answer is clear.

"I would therefore like to ask you not to change AFP's statutes.

.../...

Marie-George Buffet