Türkiye's broadcaster TRT launches French-language service

Türkiye's public broadcaster TRT has announced the launch of a new venture called TRT Francais, a media platform for a French-speaking audience, where news and analysis will be published on politics, culture, business and lifestyle.

The new media platform is part of TRT's plans to expand globally.

The Ankara-based organisation already maintains four different international feeds: TRT World, TRT Arabi, TRT Russian and TRT Deutsch.

Founded in 1964, the Turkish media organisation has been on the path to becoming a major international broadcaster since 2016, when it launched its English-language service, TRT World.

In a statement, TRT's Director-General Mehmet Zahid Sobaci said the organisation's newest addition is another "significant step" towards strengthening its foreign-language broadcasting.

"Like our other international services, TRT Francais will pursue journalism that not only reflects the values of impartiality and fairness but also equips people with a deep understanding of the outside world," Sobaci said.

"We will continue to keep our global audience at the heart of our storytelling, and we will ensure to bring you the most balanced news.

As a public broadcaster, we will keep empowering people with reliable information and inspiring content and help them," he added.

TRT Francais will feature original French-language journalism on a daily basis.

From breaking news to opinion columns to features and videos, the platform seeks to bring fair and transparent journalism to the French-speaking audience all around the world.

"Our French-language service will deliver rigorous, fact-driven journalism with an aim to improve the lives of disadvantaged, left-behind people. 

It will be an honest inquiry into all the major events that shape our world," said Omer Faruk Tanriverdi, Deputy Director-General TRT, International Broadcasts.

"We are not after numbers. We are interested in bringing out the truth, and we simply aspire to serve 76 million native French speakers and 274 million fluent French speakers across the globe," Tanriverdi added.

Türkiye — an alternative media power

Like TRT's other international news platforms, the French-language version of its website will also publish content on other networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

With its public broadcaster entering the global media stage in 2016, Türkiye quickly positioned itself as an alternative media power. 

During the launch of its ambitious English-language news network TRT World, the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described it as a new "window to the world."

"TRT World's mission is admirable in a time where international media are basically identical. The presenters and channels may be different, but editing and language are monotonous and interchangeable. I find TRT World's mission to retell stories in a new language, to offer the microphone to those who aren't allowed to speak, to turn the camera on voices which aren't seen," Erdogan said while addressing a packed auditorium at the presidential complex in Ankara.

Ever since the network has grown into a major player in the global media scene. 

It has grown into a vibrant media house with over 600 men and women representing 36 nationalities in four broadcasting centres: London, Singapore, Washington, and its headquarters in Istanbul.