Reporters Without Borders says the organization was attacked by a PR firm working for the far-right television channel CNews, which is owned by MultiChoice takeover owner Vivendi.

by AFP – Agence France Presse

Reporters Without Borders (also known in French as Reporters Without Borders or RSF) on Thursday accused a PR firm with links to French billionaire and conservative Vincent Bollore of orchestrating a “major disinformation campaign” against her.

The Paris-based non-governmental organization (NGO), known for its work defending press freedom around the world, said PR firm Progressif Media had set up fake websites similar to those of RSF.

The organization also sent messages via X (formerly known as Twitter) to discredit RSF, the NGO said.

The fake websites contained content accusing RSF of trying to censor CNews, France’s most popular news channel, which is regularly accused of spreading far-right views.

As RSF found out, Progressif Media is partly owned by Bolloré’s telecommunications group Vivendi and is based at the same location.

Vivendi also owns CNews and several other news organizations that have been blamed for the shift to the right in the French media landscape in recent years.

Vivendi’s Canal+ is making an aggressive takeover bid for MultiChoice in South Africa, despite strict bans on foreign ownership of local media companies such as MultiChoice. But Canal+ has not been deterred from buying up all available MultiChoice shares and launching a formal takeover bid, which has been approved by a special MultiChoice panel.

Vivendi, The network denies the political bias of its news channels and told AFP it had “no knowledge of possible illegal practices attributed to Progressif Media by RSF”.

However, a spokesman confirmed that Progressif Media had been used by part of its media empire “to refute certain arguments about CNews.”

“We will see what happens next and what decisions Vivendi will take now that the facts have become public,” said Arnaud Froger, head of RSF’s investigations.

CNews was launched in 2017 and is often compared to Fox News in the USA. According to RSF, the campaign came shortly after the organization filed a formal complaint demanding stricter monitoring of CNews.

Following RSF’s complaint, the media regulator Arcom was ordered in February to tighten control over television and radio stations to ensure balanced political reporting. Bollore, known for his conservative views, has gradually bought up many of France’s most important media companies, including film producer Canal+, magazine Paris Match and radio station Europe 1.

– Additional reporting by Thinus Ferreira