Is France 24 an arm of US PubD efforts? Or just a sloppy operation?

I’ve been trying to assess whether France 24’s programs, consistent with its mission to promote French values, had a pro-French bias, and if so, in what ways. I was pretty puzzled when I ran into the following program the other day, the English version of daily “The Debate.”

The topic of the day was “Iraq, between hope and terror”, and the subtitle read “with news of fresh suicide attacks against Shiite pilgrims, it’s clear that Iraq remains polarized and dangerous. Nevertheless, peaceful provincial elections in January have shown us a different Iraq. How does the situation stand today?”

http://www.france24.com/en/20090213-the-debate-iraq-between-hope-and-terror-1


The video is quite long, but basically, it provides a very positive outlook on how things are moving in Iraq. It shows women voting, optimistic Iraqis, etc. It was so positive it sounded more like something that would have been produced by an American PubD outlet, than by the French PubD outlet, especially since France has been such an outspoken opponent of the war.

As I’ve previously pointed out, instead of dubbing one show from French to English, France 24 actually produces the same show twice, once in French, once in English. In this case, the video documentary segment was the same. The debate itself, then, was facilitated by the same anchor, once in French with French guests, and once in English. What is very interesting is that on the English broadcast, while 2 of the guests were French people speaking English, the third guest was an American – in fact, a “Political Officer” of the US Embassy.

I’m not quite sure how this fits with France 24’s mission "to cover international current events from a French perspective and to convey French values throughout the world". Is France 24 an arm of US PubD? At the very least, on the face of this segment, it should not be accused of having a pro-French bias. Would this explain why the French General Auditor (Cour des Comptes) recently called France 24 on its "instable strategy" and "yet-to-be-defined coherence"?