Source & Full Article @: Guardian

Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to increase government control over state TV yesterday sparked an outcry from his political opponents who accused him of tightening a Berlusconi-style grip on the airwaves and dragging France back into its dark age of postwar censorship and propaganda.

The French president's proposed "cultural revolution" for France's five state TV channels prompted an uproar when he announced that in future, he and his cabinet would appoint the head of French state TV, instead of an independent body.

...........He argued that a government appointment of the head of France Televisions was more "democratic". This has reopened the festering row over the president's influence over the media and closeness to his press and TV baron friends who are willing to lean on, censor or even sack journalists who displease him...........

Within Sarkozy's government, the Europe minister, Jean-Pierre Jouyet warned that the plans had a "whiff" of the de Gaulle era. The media academic Dominique Wolton said it had taken several decades for French TV to emerge from the grip of the state and "depoliticise itself" but it was now going "backwards"............

...........Sarkozy announced he would scrap advertising from state TV by 2011, beginning with a ban on advertising after 8pm from January. He argued that scrapping advertising would free state TV to be more creative and public service-minded.

The socialist party accused him of handing gifts to his friends in private TV who would benefit from increased advertising.