16 employees of Ici Azur radio station are demanding the return of local news and are denouncing a "dangerous and incomprehensible" editorial policy.

"Ever less local news." In an open letter to management, 16 employees of Ici Azur (formerly France Bleu Azur) are warning of the disappearance of local content from the program schedules for some time now: the removal of a guest, half-hourly news programs, etc. All of this in favor of national content, from Paris, common to all stations. Although it has not yet been made public, the September schedule should be no exception, with more music and fewer live broadcasts.

" The editorial policy seems dangerous and incomprehensible to us ," the letter denounces. "The strength of our radio station is solely its proximity. Imposing a systematic and common operation on all local stations is to deny the specificity of our work," claims Sébastien Germain, a union member of the CGT and staff representative at Ici Azur. Because Nice is not Paris: " There are not the same roads, the same problems ." According to the open letter, this strategy would cause listeners to lose without attracting new ones.

"We are here to defend the radio"

Alongside this movement, employees of the public group Radio France (which includes the Ici network) are also mobilizing against the proposed merger between France Bleu and France 3, and a holding company bringing together public television and radio channels. But that's not the purpose of this mobilization, says Sébastien Germain: " What we want is for radio to take precedence. Yes, the Internet is essential, but we mustn't create web content at the expense of radio."

Ici Azur's mobilization follows a similar open letter sent by Ici Roussillon on May 15 to Sibyle Veil, the president of Radio France. In total, employees at 35 local radio stations in the Ici network (out of 44) are denouncing management's policies. An internal meeting was held this Wednesday between unions and managers to find common ground. It reportedly did not result in an agreement.