free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
Canal+
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
. It provides 24-hour national and global news coverage. It is the second most watched news network in France, after BFM TV and before LCI and
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
editorial stance, and is often compared to the American TV channel
Fox News
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
. It has been many times warned by French regulators ( ARCOM) for its failure to honestly and rigorously report news to the public or for illegal and reprehensible speeches. Due to these infractions, it was fined €200,000 by the French audiovisual regulatory body in 2021.
Despite the channel often violating the audiovisual laws and agreements for broadcasting on the free-to-air TV, it has so far never been really worried by the French authority of regulation.
The channel is under the control of the media proprietor and business magnate
, who has been accused of interfering with the editorial choices of the CNews.
Viewership
According to an opinion poll conducted by IFOP, in April 2022 during the
2022 French presidential election
Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...
, 40% of CNEWS's viewers voted for
Marine Le Pen
Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...
, in particular, was condemned on 17 September 2020 for inciting racial hatred.
CNEWS is also sometimes criticised for lack of viewpoint diversity, as most of the channel's contributors espouse views of the
right-wing
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
or are affiliated with the
far-right
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
.
Given its promotion of ideas of the French far right, as well as for broadcasting fake news and conspiracy theories, the channel has been described as a French version of
Fox News
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
.
During the
2022 French presidential election
Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...
, many observers note that CNews, regardless of the audiovisual laws and agreements, supports and favors clearly the Eric Zemmour's candidacy.
After the failure of Zemmour, the channel moves gradually to the support of the
National Rally
The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
, in notably campaigning for it during the
2024 French legislative election
Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 (and one day earlier for some voters outside of metropolitan France) to elect all 577 Deputy (France), members of the 17th legislature of th ...
.
At least five presenters and specialists from CNews were accused of sexual assault (
Philippe de Villiers
Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist. /ref>).
Warnings and sanctions
CNews was warned by the French regulatory body Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication, Arcom in May 2022 for its failure to respect its "obligation to honesty and rigor in the presentation and treatment of the news". This warning, due to statements made by , followed a record €200,000 fine levied against the channel the previous year. This fine was the result of recidivism by employee
whose statements had led to previous warnings.
On 13 February 2024, after a case lodged by
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
(RWB), the
Conseil d'État
In France, the (; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice, which is one of the two branches of the French judiciary system. Establ ...
ordered CNews to better respect journalistic standards and diversity. The February order by the Conseil d'État was followed by an intense campaign between RWB against hate speech and CNews for its freedom of speech. In July 2024, an investigation by RWB traced what it believed was the source of the disinformation campaign. This included a fake website pretending to be run by RWB hosted on a server hosting "Fan de CNews", a fansite supporting CNews. The website was run by what RWB states is a
disinformation
Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...
Vivendi
Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...
. The main investigator, Arnaud Froger, stated that Progressif Media used "counterfeiting, concealment, cybersquatting ndtrolling" as disinformation techniques against RWB.
Guillaume Durand
Guillaume Durand, or William Durand (c. 1230 – 1 November 1296), also known as Durandus, Duranti or Durantis, from the Italian form of Durandi filius, as he sometimes signed himself, was a French canonist and liturgical writer, and Bishop o ...
Radio Classique
Radio Classique is a French commercial radio station created in 1983 that broadcasts mainly classical music. Its programmes also contain segments of economic and political news. As of 2015, it had 1.1 million listeners per day.
Radio Classique w ...
Canal+
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...