Petition to ban French right-wing TV channel clears 500,000 signatures after racist killing

A petition urging a French television channel to be taken off-air gained traction Monday, after accusations its far-right views contributed to the racist killing of a Black man.

Anger at CNews – often described as France's answer to right-wing US network Fox News – has mounted just six months before the country elects a new president, with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen leading in the polls to replace President Emmanuel Macron.

The petition to shut down the channel was launched in June, but signatures spiked after a man on October 23 killed a Frenchman of Congolese origin and wounded seven others – including a child – in a racist attack in the Paris suburbs.

A 39-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the attack in the towns of Trappes and La Verrière west of Paris in which he said he was "targeting individuals who appeared to be Muslim, African, or North African", according to a prosecutor.

Contacts told French media he was an avid consumer of CNews, while left-wing politicians have accused such media of giving too much airtime to anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The independent petition accusing CNews of being a "propaganda machine" on Monday surpassed 500,000 signatures on the National Assembly website. This means the issue could go to debate in the lower house, though this is not systematic.

Notably critics say CNews' agenda increasingly follows the lines taken by Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN), from ‌which the channel could benefit if, as polls suggest, Le Pen wins the 2027 presidential election and fulfills her promise to privatise public broadcasting, which CNews has long criticised.

CNews – among the media outlets owned by French ultra-conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré – told AFP it would not comment on a "political petition".

It has previously denied allegations it promotes far-right views and racist tropes, saying it defends freedom of expression.

Protesters at a rally a few days after the attack in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers held up posters reading slogans such as "CNews kills".

Two Green lawmakers have urged the lower house of parliament to withdraw accreditation for CNews to protect "democracy" from "racist hatred".

France earlier this year expelled Russian pundit Xenia Fedorova, who had been accused of peddling Kremlin propaganda on CNews.

The channel has also been accused of broadcasting racist comments about Bally Bagayoko, a Frenchman of Malian descent who is the mayor of the capital's largest suburb, Saint-Denis.

Protesters on October 17 threw projectiles and broke windows at the channel's Paris headquarters during cost-of-living protests.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)