French television presenter Jean-Marc Morandini announced on Sunday that he had proposed his withdrawal from the CNews news channel, weeks after his conviction for corruption of minors became final. The host of the daily programme Morandini Live posted on social media that he had offered to step back from the airwaves in order to restore calm within the editorial team, adding that he did not want to be a problem for the staff or the management of the channel and its parent group.
The announcement comes after weeks of mounting pressure on CNews and its owner, the Bollore media group. On January 14, the French Court of Cassation upheld Morandini's conviction for sending sexually explicit messages to three teenagers between 2009 and 2016, sentencing him to two years of suspended imprisonment, a 20,000 euro fine, a permanent ban from working with minors, and registration on the national sex offenders registry. On January 22, he also abandoned his appeal against a separate conviction for sexual harassment of a young actor, making that 18-month suspended sentence final as well.
Despite these definitive convictions, CNews initially chose to keep Morandini on air. The director of Canal Plus France publicly defended the decision, stating that the channel fully assumed it and noting that the presenter had no contact with minors in his professional role. This stance provoked a severe internal crisis within the network. Star journalist Sonia Mabrouk resigned from both CNews and Europe 1 on February 6, stating that she could not endorse the decision to maintain a convicted individual on the airwaves. Veteran presenters Pascal Praud and Laurence Ferrari also publicly expressed their disapproval.
The controversy extended beyond the newsroom. Member of the European Parliament Francois-Xavier Bellamy of the centre-right Les Republicains party called on Morandini to resign during a live broadcast. Rassemblement National leader Jordan Bardella instructed his party officials to boycott Morandini's programme. Advertisers began fleeing the show in droves, with only 18 commercial spots airing across two weeks following the conviction, compared to 16 advertisements in a single slot for the preceding programme. One advertiser publicly stated that they had decided to stop all placements immediately upon learning of the situation.
CNews management responded to Morandini's withdrawal proposal by stating that they were taking note of his decision to leave the airwaves immediately. A parliamentary commission on public broadcasting has summoned Bollore group founder Vincent Bollore to testify in late February about why a presenter convicted of corruption of minors had been maintained on air. The commission's chairman stated that even in the absence of a legal violation by the broadcaster, it was not acceptable for a person registered on the sex offenders list to remain on television.
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