Editing France 24 (section)

===First project (1986–1999)===
In 1986, then French Prime Minister [[Jacques Chirac]] expressed his desire for an international television news channel in French and had requested a report into the activities of current international broadcasts from France ([[Radio France Internationale]], [[TV5Monde|TV5]], and to a certain extent [[Outre-Mer 1ère|Réseau France Outre-Mer]]) and noted the collective offering was "fragmented, disorganised and ineffective."

With the arrival of [[François Mitterrand]] as president in 1981 and the naming of [[Michel Rocard]] as Prime Minister in 1989, the government launched a new project, {{lang|fr|Canal France International}} (CFI), a package of programmes aimed at making programmes in French for foreign audiences, particularly in Africa, to be developed in parallel as a television channel.

The First [[Gulf War]] of 1990, relayed across the world by [[CNN International]] in particular, revealed the power of international news channels and their role in the formation of opinion. A parliamentary minister, [[Philippe Séguin]], wished to create a French-language equivalent.

In 1996 to 1999, after nineteen governmental reports in ten years, Prime Minister [[Alain Juppé]] asked [[Radio France Internationale]] president [[Jean-Paul Cluzel]] (who was also [[General Inspection of Finances (France)|General Inspector of Finances]]) to create a French international news channel. Cluzel proposed in 1998 to group TV5, RFI, and CFI within a corporation entitled Téléfi. The [[Union for a Popular Movement|UMP]]-led government decided to follow that recommendation but, with the return of the [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist Party]] to government and the nomination of [[Hubert Védrine]], the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, favoured the augmentation of existing outlets such as TV5, which started to produce its own programming, notably its news bulletins, which in turn created its own news team.

Additionally with the creation of [[EuroNews]] in 1993 (with French-language commentary), the media presence of France overseas became more complex, more fragmented, and costlier, without being able to rely on a true round-the-clock international news channel.