The master's voice: Television censorship and the O.R.T.F.

Abstract

During the first decade of its postwar existence, French television suffered only minimal control by the governments of the Fourth Republic, which focused their surveillance primarily on radio. The Algerian crisis provoked greater censorship. De Gaulle was the first to recognize the potential of television as a tool to attain his political objectives for the newly created Fifth Republic. He exploited it for every major issue facing his presidency. Under his presidency the R.T.F. became the O.R.T.F. and was officially acknowledged as a government monopoly. During the 1960s, strict measures of control and secret censorship were established. The events of May 1968 eventually resulted in the end of De Gaulle's presidency and the liberalization of French television from draconian surveillance. The respite was brief, however. By the spring of 1972 criticism of the O.R.T.F. was beginning to come from all quarters. With the death of Pompidou in 1974 the O.R.T.F. was dismantled.