Chirac’s baby arrives tomorrow

France 24 starts broadcasting tomorrow.

For some reason the official website has a compressed file, but nothing much else, so we have to look elsewhere for details: France 24 brings Gallic touch to all-news television

PARIS: France goes head-to-head with CNN and the BBC from Wednesday with the launch of its state-funded 24/7 news channel, part of President Jacques Chirac’s efforts to make his country’s voice heard.

France 24 will broadcast two channels, one in French and the other mostly in English.

“Our mission is to cover worldwide news with French eyes,” CEO Alain de Pouzilhac told Associated Press Television News. He said the channel will emphasize in-depth reporting and debate, culture and “l’art de vivre” — the art of living.

To do so, they’re having to broadcast in English, at least for a little while:

To beat les Anglo-Saxons, you have to join them, even if that means broadcasting “French values” to the world in English.

France will enter the “information arms race” this week, launching its own state-funded, international 24-hour television news station. The declared mission of France 24, which takes to the air on Wednesday, is to present the world “through French eyes” and through the prism of “French values”. It will, however, broadcast identical news bulletins simultaneously on separate channels in French and English.

“Yes, this may seem a paradox,” said Alain de Pouzilhac, the president of France 24. “Most of our target audience around the world speaks English. If we wish to offer an alternative view of the world through French eyes, we have to do so partly in English.”

The English- and French-language news teams will work together to produce identical bulletins which will be read by two presenters standing at opposite ends of the newsroom. But while the French channel will broadcast round the clock, the English channel will switch over to French for six hours a day at first and eventually to Arabic.

Eurabia, anyone?

Update, Wednesday, December 6

The latest state-run program to assuage French feelings of inferiority, the channel will eventually expand to offer identical broadcasts in Arab and Spanish as well … if it can find enough money to pay for it

And it was Villepin’s idea

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In other EU news, ‘Skirts on signs’ in Spanish town signal gender equality, or so they would like to believe:

To me, it just says, “girls crossing”.
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In Europe, but not in the EU,
Russia upgrades nuclear missiles

Russia says it is deploying a mobile version of its most important long-range nuclear missile.

Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said the new Topol-M missiles would be able to penetrate a multi-layered missile defence system.

Soon to be available to the highest bidder, perhaps?

(technorati tags France 24 Spain Russia Topol-M missiles)