Pave: Français parlé ici. Seulement.

Poor Paris. Once so cosmopolitan, now a sink of Anglophonophobia.

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE RADIO STATIONS SHUT OUT OF PARIS

PARIS May 22, 2007 (AFP) - English-language radio stations complained Tuesday they had been refused an FM licence in Paris, a city which currently has Armenian, Portuguese and Arabic broadcasters but not a single English language station.

The BBC World Service, Paris Live Radio and World Radio Paris were all excluded from a shortlist of contenders for licences drawn up by the CSA [Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel], the French broadcasting authority.

Ian de Renzie Duncan, the director of Paris Live Radio, which has broadcast on satellite and cable in France:

"It is unknown in the developed world for a major city to not have at least some local radio in English. The CSA have just said 'no English radio' on our turf. The decision is extraordinary. It just lacks any comprehension of Paris' place in the world today as the world's most visited city. What about the 20 million English-speaking tourists that visit Paris every year?"

M. Duncan also notes there are 400,000 English-speaking foreign residents in the Paris region.

David Blanc, director of World Radio Paris, a joint venture between NPR of the US, the BBC and the American University in Paris:

"The French (authorities) are afraid of the English language."

As we argue elsewhere, failing cultures cannot be fenced off and preserved against encroachments by successful cultures. Cultures derive their vitality from the living, not life-support legislation and policies or wishing away competing cultures.

For cultures worried about preservation, we suggest ringing up a museum with an ethnography wing and arranging for a little display space in the vitrines.

PFFT (What is this?): Parochial Paris 3 | Rayonnement français 0