By Rania Khalaf THE NEWS channel France 24 will be exactly a year old on 6 December, writes Rania Khallaf. Over this short span of time, the channel, which broadcasts four hours of Arabic a day as well as in English and French, has achieved remarkable popularity in Arab and Islamic countries, especially in the Maghreb where French is appreciated as much as Arabic if not more. "By the end of 2008, the channel's Arabic service will broadcast for 24 hours a day," Alain de Pouzilhac, chief executive officer, told Al-Ahram Weekly on Sunday. The occasion was a press conference held at the Four Seasons Hotel, where Pouzilhac also announced that the daily broadcast will have reached 12 hours by 28 March: the decision reflects the view that "most of the disputes" informing Muslim-Western relations originate "in this part of the world". Pouzilhac emphasised France 24's commitment to communicating "the French perspective" in American- and British-dominated media: "We believe that leaders across the world need different views on political, economic and cultural issues to make properly informed decisions." A Euro 15 million project, the Arabic-service expansion is a major component of France 24's efforts to counter the "CNN monopoly on world views" through "diversity: cultural diversity, religious diversity and educational diversity". No attempt at objectivity, he insisted, "which simply does not exist": rather, France 24 hopes to continue, together with Al-Jazeera's English service, to cover the full range of opinions, bridging East and West. The "youngest child of the international media", as he had called France 24 in the press conference, the channel web site draws in far more foreigners than CNN (84 as opposed to seven percent) and prioritises culture over economics. "Yes, we do live in an era characterized by cultural globalization, where different opinions meet at one point. It is only natural that every channel defend its own policy." Relogion may be an unavoidable part of any given culture but, France being a secular country, "we would rather conduct the dialogue we propose on the basis of secular rather than religious values". Arabic-service programmes include a 10-minute news updates every half hour and features on future, health, environment, opinions, as well as talk shows and daily topical reports ranging from three to 17 minutes.
