RSF - Reporters sans frontières

03/09/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 03/10/2026 11:28

Media concentration: French Council of State called to rule on the sale of business magazine to luxury group LVMH

The sale of the business magazine Challenges to the luxury group LVMH, which owns several publications, is the latest textbook case of media concentration in the French market. Billionaire Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, is already a shareholder in the national business daily Les Echos. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), France's National Union of Journalists (SNJ) and the union for media professionals SNJ-CGT have referred the matter to the Council of State - France's highest administrative court - so that it may rule on emergency measures to prevent irreparable harm to media pluralism and editorial independence, in accordance with European Union (EU) legislation. As a key hearing before the Council of State approaches on 12 March, RSF is calling on the French government to urgently fulfil its role in ensuring such acquisitions are properly assessed to prevent harmful consequences to the country's media landscape.

France is regularly criticised within the European Unionfor the concentration of its media ownership, coupled with insufficient safeguards for newsroom independence and media pluralism. This is despite numerous parliamentary and academic initiatives to reform the current framework, which is defined by the 1986 Léotard law, whose criteria are now outdated. The most recent example is the bill introducedby Green Party MP Sophie Taillé-Polian, which it aims to safeguard media pluralism by limiting the concentration of media ownership in the hands of a small number of proprietors. On 12 February, the first article of this bill secured a majority in the National Assembly..However, the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which has been fully in force in France since 8 August 2025, already provides part of the solution in its Article 22: it requires media concentration operations - acquisitions, shareholdings and mergers - to be subject to rigorous and independent assessment in order to limit risks to media pluralism and the editorial independence of newsrooms.

However, the French state has failed to take the measures it is required to implement under European law, namely, designating the authority responsible for carrying out these assessments and defining the procedures governing them.

RSF, the SNJ and the SNJ-CGT have therefore brought the matterbefore the administrative courts to denounce the state's inaction, compel it to take the necessary measures and prevent the irreparable damage that could result from this failure. These issues will be examined before the Council of State on 12 March. The acquisition of Challengesby LVMH was not subject to any such review, even though it took place in December 2025 - several months after the EMFA entered into force. The consequences of this lack of scrutiny for external pluralism and the independence of the magazine's newsroom are already apparent, as the SDJ reports turmoilover changes to the editorial charter.

"RSF is simply asking that the conditions be created for the European regulation - which is already in force - to be applied. There is a clear, urgent need to establish an effective mechanism to temper the way the the media landscape is currently being reshaped - the acquisition of Challenges is the latest example of this. At the same time, we've noted the unfulfilled promise that new legislation would emerge from the National Forum on Information, even though the bill introduced by Sophie Taillé-Polian last month demonstrated that a parliamentary majority could be formed around such a text. The state's failure to act should not lead to resignation: the Council of State has the power to prevent irreparable harm caused by the non-application of Article 22 of the EMFA. RSF calls on France's highest administrative court to guarantee citizens' fundamental right to media pluralism, the independence of newsrooms, and legal security for media owners involved in such concentration operations - and also for their employees.

Thibaut Bruttin
RSF Director General

At the same time, the SNJ, SNJ-CGT and SNME-CFDT have referred the matter to the French Competition Authority, arguing that LVMH abused its dominant position by acquiring Challenges. The procedure is still ongoing.

Published on09.03.2026
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