Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio news network of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

, the BBC World Service and

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

. RFI broadcasts 24 hours per day around the world in French and in 16 other languages in FM, shortwave, medium wave, satellite and on its website. It is a channel of the state company France Médias Monde. The majority of shortwave transmissions are in French and Hausa but also includes some hours of Swahili, Fulfulde and Mandinka. RFI broadcasts to over 150 countries on 5 continents. Africa is the largest part of radio listeners, representing 60% of the total audience in 2010. In the Paris region, RFI comprises between 150,000 and 200,000 listeners. Its digital platforms attract an average of 24.6 million visits a month (2022 average) while 31.1 million followers stay connected via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and Youtube. In 2020, the audience was of 58.1 million listeners (up to 11.6 million compared to 2019, +25%), breaking down into 29.8 million in French-speaking Africa, 11 million in non-French speaking Africa, 2 million in the Maghreb region, 1.3 million in Europe, 13 million in the Americas and 1 million in Asia.

History

RFI was created in 1975 as part of

Radio France Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...

by the

Government of France The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

, and replaced the Poste Colonial (created in 1931), Paris-Mondial (1937),

Radio Paris Radio Paris was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in Vichy France during World War II. Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called Radiola, founded by pioneering Fren ...

(1939), a private station which was commandeered by the Germans during the occupation of France, and the Voice of France which was operated by the

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

from 1941 to 1944,

RTF Radio Paris RTF may refer to: Organizations * Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, a broadcaster in France, 1949–1964 * Regional Task Force, the military operation of the RCI-LRA, run by the African Union, 2011–2018 * Russian Tennis Federation, the ...

(1945) and ORTF Radio Paris (1965). In 1986 the

French Parliament The French Parliament (, ) is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (France), Senate (), and the National Assembly (France), National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessi ...

changed the law to allow RFI to operate independently of Radio France. RFI operates under the auspices and primary budget of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. It broadcasts primarily in French, but also in English, Swahili, Hausa, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Persian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian and as of 2015, Manding. As of 2 April 2020, the English service has ceased broadcasting, replaced by a selection of French music. It also owns Monte Carlo Doualiya (formerly Radio Monte Carlo Middle East), which produces

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

programmes in Paris, and airs them from a transmitter in Cyprus to audiences across the Middle East and North Africa.

Incidents

On 17 September 2002,

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

lese President Gnassingbé Eyadéma tried to stop the broadcasting of an interview with one of his opponents, Agbéyomé Kodjo, by phoning directly to the Elysée Palace. The interview was not censored by Jean-Paul Cluzel, RFI's CEO at the time, due to the coordinated intervention of the journalists' trade unions. However, a report raising questions regarding the French secret services responsibilities in the 1995 death of judge Bernard Borrel in

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

, which was broadcast on 17 May 2005, was later removed from RFI's website for undisclosed reasons, possibly due to the intervention of Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh. On 21 October 2003, Jean Hélène was reporting for RFI during the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

when he was killed in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

by police sergeant Théodore Séry Dago. On 2 November 2013, RFI reporting team Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were murdered while covering the

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

elections. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

set their death date to commemorate the International Day of Impunity each year. In November 2020, RFI mistakenly published numerous obituaries of famous people on its own web site, as well as sending them to related web sites, after moving draft stories to a new system. The government of

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

suspended two state-owned media outlets (

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

and the RFI) following the 2023 Nigerien coup d'état.

Podcasts

RFI offers a daily podcast in simple French named ''Journal en français facile''. There are also several other podcasts including the weekly '' Afrique Presse'', which is hosted by Assane Diop and discusses the most important news in Africa that week.

Slogans

* "The world's radio!" (1987 - 1996) * "And the news become worldwide" (2010 - 2013) * "Voices of the world" (from 2013)

References

Bibliography

External links

*
English-language site

RFI Hausa service

RFI English Facebook Page

RFI Music programme on Facebook World Tracks

RFI English language Music section

Music biographies in the RFI English language website
{{coord missing, France 1975 establishments in France Publicly funded broadcasters Radio in France Radio France International broadcasters Radio stations established in 1975 Multilingual news services France Médias Monde