United States
United Kingdom
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
IrelandPraud defends switching channels after MPs shelve anti-CNews petition
A caller who signed the petition challenges the host's argument that viewers, rather than politicians, should decide what to watch.
FranceWhy this story? One of Europe 1's most watched videos since yesterday, with 124,536 views.
Europe 1: A French radio station on air since 1955, owned by the Bolloré family's media group. 2.3M subscribers and 2B views.
Pascal Praud RÉAGIT à la pétition anti-CNews enterrée par l'Assemblée : "La gauche veut censurer"
Next story: Praud invites lawyer onto CNews after criticism of the channel
One more story on French MPs shelve anti-CNews petition ›
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:00Portier announces a 28-to-25 committee vote to shelve the petition seeking CNews's closure.
- 1:52Praud explains the National Assembly's procedures for handling petitions.
- 4:02Caller Cédric presents the decision as a defense of press freedom and democracy.
- 6:14Kévin identifies himself as a La France Insoumise activist and signatory, then criticizes CNews's output.
- 7:16Praud argues that viewers should decide for themselves and can change channels if dissatisfied.
- 9:47Kévin questions CNews's reach among young people; Praud challenges the implications of that argument.
For Pascal Praud, the answer to disliking CNews is to change the channel. A caller who signed a petition seeking its closure disagrees, giving the filmed radio discussion its central dispute: whether audience choice answers objections to a broadcaster's output.
The segment, broadcast by France's Europe 1 radio station, opens with a parliamentary decision. In an audio recording, Alexandre Portier, chair of the National Assembly's Cultural Affairs Committee, announces that members voted 28 to 25 to shelve the petition. This was a committee decision about the petition, not a vote by the full Assembly on closing the channel.
Further recordings capture tensions between Portier and MP Aymeric Caron. Portier then puts the number of signatories in the context of France's population and refers to an earlier petition concerning C8. Praud follows with an explanation of how petitions are handled by the National Assembly, France's lower parliamentary chamber.
Praud is also a familiar face on CNews, where he hosts L'Heure des pros. His defense of the television news channel is therefore a discussion about a broadcaster on which he appears, not simply an outside assessment.
After a studio detour about a shirt and Little House on the Prairie, caller Cédric welcomes the decision as a defense of press freedom and democracy. He portrays the petition as a maneuver by the far left.
Kévin, who identifies himself as an activist with the left-wing La France Insoumise party and a petition signatory, challenges that account and criticizes CNews's programming. Praud argues that the public is sovereign and free to watch something else.
Their exchange later turns to age and influence. Kévin says young people no longer watch television and describes CNews's audience as aging. Praud responds that a channel young people do not watch cannot be blamed for influencing them. He closes by attributing CNews's success to editorial choices that address subjects other media neglect.
CNews is a French far-right opinion channel available on free-to-air television. It carries national and international news around the clock.
More on Wikipedia ›Alexandre Portier is a French politician belonging to The Republicans party.
More on Wikipedia ›The National Assembly is the lower chamber of France's Parliament; the Senate is the upper chamber. Its members are known as deputies.
More on Wikipedia ›Aymeric Caron is a French politician and former broadcast journalist who has represented Paris's 18th constituency since 2022. He belongs to Ecological Revolution for the Living and sits with the La France Insoumise parliamentary group.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
More on French MPs shelve anti-CNews petition
Where next?
What do you think?
- Channel
- Europe 1
- Subscribers
- 2,300,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,327,006
- Channel views, pace per day
- 595,579 (on a normal day: 916,181)
- Video published
- November 10, 2026
- Video views so far
- 124,536 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 183,895
The numbers
The discussion drew about 125,000 views since yesterday, making it the most-watched new video among France's leading news channels in this selection.
💡 Test your knowledge
What does the French party name La France Insoumise mean in English?
La France Insoumise is commonly rendered in English as France Unbowed.