View source for Radio France Internationale

{{short description|International radio broadcasting service of France}}
{{about|an international radio network|the domestic radio network|France Info (radio network)}}
{{Infobox radio network
|name                = Radio France Internationale
|logo                = RFI logo 2013.svg
|image               = 
|network_type        = International public broadcaster
|country             = [[France]]
|available           = Worldwide
|founded             = 1945 {{small|(1975 as Radio France International)}}
|owner               = [[France Médias Monde]]<br/>{{small|([[Government of France]])}}
|affiliates          = {{plainlist|
*[[Monte Carlo Doualiya]]
*[[France 24]]
*[[TV5Monde]]}}
| digital            =
| analog             =
| callsigns          =
| callsign_meaning   =
| former_callsigns   =
|website             = {{ubl|
* {{URL|https://www.rfi.fr/fr/|rfi.fr/fr}}
* {{URL|https://www.rfi.fr/en/|rfi.fr/en}}
}}
|footnotes           = 
}}

'''Radio France Internationale''', usually referred to as '''RFI''', is the [[State media|state-owned]] international radio news network of [[France]]. 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]], the [[BBC World Service]] and [[Voice of America]].<ref name="Who are we">{{Cite web |date=2015-12-14 |title=Who are we? |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/about-us |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=RFI |language=en}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.csa.fr/content/download/212753/568363/file/Rapport%20CDC%20FMM%202014.pdf |title=Rapport du CSA sur l'exécution du cahier des charges de France Médias Monde |website=[[Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel]]  |publisher=[[France Médias Monde]] |date=2014 |access-date=12 May 2016}}</ref>{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2024}}

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 language|Hausa]] but also includes some hours of [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Fulfulde language|Fulfulde]] and [[Mandinka language|Mandinka]]. RFI broadcasts to over 150 countries on 5 continents.<ref name="auto"/>{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2024}} Africa is the largest part of radio listeners, representing 60% of the total audience in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/Politiques-ministerielles/Audiovisuel/Sous-Dossiers-thematiques/La-reforme-de-l-audiovisuel-exterieur/RFI-Radio-France-Internationale |title=RFI (Radio France Internationale) |date=16 May 2012 |access-date=10 May 2016}}</ref>{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2024}} In the [[Île-de-France|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.<ref name="Who are we"/>{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2024}}

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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=OBJECTIFS ET INDICATEURS DE PERFORMANCE |url=https://www.budget.gouv.fr/files/uploads/extract/2022/PLF/CCF/PGM/844/FR_2022_PLF_CCF_PGM_844_PERF.html#:~:text=En%202020,%20l'audience%20hebdomadaire,%C3%A0%202019%20(+25%25). |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=www.budget.gouv.fr}}</ref>{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2024}}

==History==
{{Unsourced section|date=November 2024}}[[File:Rfi logo.svg|thumb|100px|left|Logo of RFI from 1996 until June 2013.]]
RFI was created in 1975 as part of [[Radio France]] by the [[Cabinet of France|Government of France]], and replaced the [[Poste Colonial]] (created in 1931), [[Paris-Mondial]] (1937), [[Radio Paris]] (1939), a private station which was commandeered by the Germans during the [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|occupation of France]], and the Voice of France which was operated by the [[Vichy France|Vichy regime]] from 1941 to 1944, [[RTF Radio Paris]] (1945) and [[ORTF Radio Paris]] (1965). In 1986 the [[French Parliament]] 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 (France)|Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs]]. It broadcasts primarily in French, but also in [[English language|English]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Hausa language|Hausa]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Persian Language|Persian]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Cambodian language|Cambodian]] and as of 2015, [[Manding languages|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 language|Arabic]] 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]]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 [[censorship|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 [[Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure|French secret services]] responsibilities in the 1995 death of judge [[Bernard Borrel]] in [[Djibouti]], 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]].<ref>{{cite news |date=January 2006 |title=Une 'CNN à la française' - Parrain privé, chaîne publique |url=http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2006/01/BENILDE/13103 |newspaper=Le Monde Diplomatique |location=Paris}} (also available in [[Persian language|Persian]] here [http://ir.mondediplo.com/article823.html])</ref>

On 21 October 2003, [[Jean Hélène]] was reporting for RFI during the [[First Ivorian Civil War|civil war]] in [[Ivory Coast]] when he was killed in [[Abidjan]] by police sergeant Théodore Séry Dago.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

On 2 November 2013, RFI reporting team [[Ghislaine Dupont]] and [[Claude Verlon]] were murdered while covering the [[Mali]] elections. The [[United Nations]] set their death date to commemorate the [[International Day of Impunity]] each year.<ref name=rsf>{{cite web|url=http://en.rsf.org/un-general-assembly-adopts-26-11-2013,45512.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127144211/http://en.rsf.org/un-general-assembly-adopts-26-11-2013,45512.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 27, 2013|title=UN General Assembly adopts resolution on journalists safety |publisher=[[Reporters Without Borders]]}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54965098|title=Radio France Internationale publishes obituaries of people still alive|work=[[BBC]]|date=16 November 2020|access-date=24 November 2020}}</ref>

The government of [[Niger]] suspended two state-owned media outlets ([[France 24]] and the RFI) following the [[2023 Nigerien coup d'état]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Niger suspends France 24 and RFI, Paris "very strongly condemns" |url=https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/le-niger-suspend-france-24-et-rfi-paris-condamne-tres-fermement-03-08-2023-2530543_3826.php#11 |work=Le Point}}</ref>

==Podcasts==
RFI offers a daily podcast in simple [[French language|French]] named ''Journal en français facile''.<ref>{{cite web |title=RFI - Journal en français facile 20H TU |url=http://www.rfi.fr/radiofr/podcast/journalFrancaisFacile.asp |url-status=dead |access-date=2021-01-21 |publisher=Rfi.fr}}</ref>{{Update needed|date=November 2024}}{{Secondary source needed|date=November 2024}} There are also several other podcasts including the weekly ''[[Afrique Presse]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.frenchpodcasts.net/french-language-podcasts/afrique-presse-podcast/ |title=Afrique Presse |work=French Podcasts |publisher=Frenchpodcasts.net |access-date=2021-01-21}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2024}} 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)

==See also==
{{Portal bar|Companies|Radio|France}}
* [[France 24]]
* [[List of international radio broadcasters]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite journal |author=Thierry Perret |title= 'L'Afrique à l'écoute': La France, l'Afrique et la radio mondiale |journal=[[Cahiers d'Études africaines]] |number=198–199–200 |url=http://etudesafricaines.revues.org/16448 |language=fr |via= [[Revues.org]] |year= 2010
|volume= 50 |pages= 1003–1032 |doi= 10.4000/etudesafricaines.16448 |doi-access= free }} {{open access}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|http://www.rfi.fr}} {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://www.rfienglish.com English-language site] {{in lang|en}}
* [http://www.rfi.fr/langues/statiques/rfi_hausa.asp/ RFI Hausa service]
* [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Radio-France-Internationale-English-Service/28764872018 RFI English Facebook Page]
* [https://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=40797887933&ref=mf RFI Music programme on Facebook World Tracks] {{in lang|en}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060208135556/http://www.rfimusique.com/siteen/accueil/index.asp RFI English language Music section]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060219165001/http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/biographie/biographie_A.asp Music biographies in the RFI English language website]

{{France Médias Monde}}
{{Radio stations in France}}
{{European Broadcasting Union Members}}
{{World Radio Network}}
{{Telecommunications}}
{{Authority control}}
{{coord missing|France}}
[[Category:1975 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Publicly funded broadcasters]]
[[Category:Radio in France]]
[[Category:Radio France]]
[[Category:International broadcasters]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1975]]
[[Category:Multilingual news services]]
[[Category:France Médias Monde]]