The news through French eyes

Level 1 Intermediate

1 Key words

Fill the gaps using these words from the text.

rival launch cuisine simultaneously heated

media gala funding ceasefire bulletin

1. A ____________ is a special performance or event to celebrate something.

2. A news ____________ is a short news broadcast.

3. ____________ is a particular style of cooking, especially the cooking of a particular country or region.

4. A ____________ is an agreement to stop fighting for a period of time.

5. If things happen ____________, they happen at exactly the same time.

6. A ____________ is a person, team or business that competes with another.

7. If a discussion or argument is ____________, people become angry and excited.

8. ____________ is the money that a government or organization provides for a particular purpose.

9. If you ____________ a new product or service, you start offering it to the public.

10. The ____________ includes newspapers, radio, television and the internet.

2 Find the information

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible.

1. How many journalists will work for France 24?

2. What is the annual budget of CNN?

3. How long will each news bulletin be on France 24?

4. How often will a news bulletin be broadcast?

5. When did Mr Chirac first have the idea of a French 24-hour news channel?

6. How many viewers does France 24 plan to have?

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The news through French eyes
Level 1 Intermediate
The news through French eyes:
Chirac TV takes on Anglo-Saxon
imperialism
by Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
6 December, 2006
For more than 10 years President Jacques
Chirac of France has dreamt of a French
24-hour television news channel to act as a
rival to English-speaking channels such as
BBC World and CNN. Now, after many years
of disagreements and internal problems, the
channel will finally be launched, promising a
revolution in world news reporting.
France 24 intends to report international news
through French eyes. It will offer a French
perspective on world events from the Middle
East to Madagascar, and also aims to reflect
the French way of life. It will explain the news
with typical French TV debate shows where
philosophers discuss current affairs. Test
programmes have included topics from Rwanda
to the French rugby team or the changing tastes
for Beaujolais nouveau wine.
At least 20% of the programming will focus on
culture and lifestyle, including everything from
world museums to cuisine, fashion and French
chocolate. It will broadcast simultaneously
on two channels, in English and French. But
broadcasting in English will not affect the French
character of the channel. France 24 executives
hope the English debate shows will be even
more heated than the French. The channel also
plans to broadcast in Arabic and Spanish.
Mr Chirac first had the idea of a French 24-hour
news channel when he was prime minister in
the late 1980s. It was then one of his election
promises for the presidency in 2002. The
following year, when Mr Chirac criticized the
American preparations for war in Iraq, he was
attacked by the media in the US and Britain.
People clearly saw the need for a news channel
with a French voice. Mr Chirac now wants to
launch it as one of the projects that continue
Frances struggle against the global dominance
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
NEWS LESSONS / The news through French eyes / Intermediate
of the US. Earlier this year he announced plans
for a Franco-German search engine to compete
with Google and Yahoo, called Quaero, Latin for
I search.
But although the president will launch France 24
at a gala in Paris, the stations chief executive,
Alain de Pouzilhac, says the station will not
become Chirac TV. We have public money
but we are an independent channel, he says.
The centre-right presidential hopeful Nicolas
Sarkozy will also not be able to use the channel
to broadcast his views. I know Nicolas very well.
I dont believe we will have a problem with that.
He hasnt called me, Mr Pouzilhac added.
The channel wants to have a similar number of
viewers to al-Jazeeras English service, about
75 million households in more than 90 countries,
and describes itself as a third way between the
Qatar-based al-Jazeera and CNN.
But the birth of France 24 has not been easy.
It is a partnership between France Tlvisions,
the countrys public broadcaster, and TF1, one
of Europes largest private TV channels, two
groups which are normally rivals. There have
been several protests by trade unions and
management disagreements there have even
been disagreements over the channels name.
Some French politicians believe the station
will not generate enough income to compete
internationally.
France 24s pictures will mainly come from its
parent TV stations as well as other partners such
as the main French news agency and Radio
France International, which has led some people
to say that it will just be a summary of other
channels content. France 24 will have a team
of 170 journalists of an average age of 30 and
public funding of 86m (58m) for the first year,
France 24 is much smaller than its competitors.
CNN has a budget of 1.2bn and a staff of 4,000.
But journalists at its headquarters say the station
will influence world politics. Mark Owen, who
will present the English morning news bulletins
and debate show, said: Look at the conflict in
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The news through French eyes
Level 1 Intermediate
Lebanon this summer. If Jacques Chiracs call for
a ceasefire which wasnt reported by the BBC
or CNN had been reported earlier, it could have
ended the conflict earlier. If Chiracs call had
been reported more widely, it maybe could have
saved thousands of lives. That was a story that
needed a French angle, with Frances historic
links to Lebanon.

The France 24 website will launch tonight

and the station goes live tomorrow. There will
be a 10-minute news bulletin each half hour
and between the news bulletins, magazine
programmes with topics including humanitarian
affairs, lifestyle, culture, and a monthly show on
economics and business. The Week in France
will discuss politics and society, and other weekly
specials will come from Asia, the Americas, Africa
and the Middle East.

Outside the shining new building, the critical

reaction has been favourable. Guillaume
Parmentier, director of the French Centre on the
United States, said: Its not an anti-American
operation. Its more than that. France didnt have
an international news channel while many other
countries have them. What is remarkable is that
is has taken such a long time for France to get
one.

Guardian News & Media 2006

First published in the Guardian, 6/12/06 D
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The news through French eyes
Level 1 Intermediate

3 Comprehension check
Are these sentences True or False according to the text?

1. France 24 plans to have as many viewers as CNN and BBC News 24.

2. France 24 will broadcast in both French and English.

3. France 24 is also known as Chirac TV.

4. All the journalists at France 24 are 30 years old.

5. The critical reaction to France 24 has been positive.

6. Everyone agreed that France 24 was the best name for the channel.

7. France 24 is the worlds first 24-hour television news channel.

8. The main aim of France 24 is to report the news from a French point of view.

4 Vocabulary 1: Verb + noun collocations

Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns or noun phrases in the right-hand column.

1. launch a. the news

2. debate b. a rival

3. have c. lives

4. compete with d. a new service or product

5. generate e. a television programme

6. present f. an idea

7. save g. income

8. report h. a topic
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NEWS LESSONS / The news through French eyes / Intermediate

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The news through French eyes
Level 1 Intermediate

5 Vocabulary 2: Prepositions
Fill the gaps using prepositions. Check your answers in the text.

1. focus _______

2. taste _______

3. perspective _______

4. preparation _______

5. need _______

6. struggle _______

7. compete _______

8. disagreement _______

6 Word building

Complete the table.

verb noun
1. disagree ____________

2. criticize ____________
3. prepare ____________

4. dominate ____________

5. announce ____________

6. compete ____________

7. summarise ____________

8. fund ____________

7 Discussion

Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing that English is the so-called international language of business?
Why?
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