The ax has fallen.
The Superior council of audio-visual finally took the decision to count down the speaking time of Eric Zemmour.
“The college of the Superior council of audio-visual, meeting this day in plenary assembly, decided to ask the audio-visual media to count the interventions of Mr. Eric Zemmour relating to the national political debate.
This decision will apply from September 9, 2021 ”, indicates the regulator in a press release.
At the beginning of the year, faced with the headache of the rise of opinion debates on television and radio, Roch-Olivier Maistre had nevertheless ruled: "
The CSA is not the tribunal of opinion
", declared -it in the columns of
Figaro
.
The CSA recalls that "
the provisions of the law of September 30, 1986 provide for the taking into account of the interventions of political personalities
". The regulator considers that “
in view of recent developments (..)
,
Mr. Zemmour could henceforth be regarded, both by his positions and his actions, and by the comments to which they give rise, as an actor in the national political debate
". The audiovisual policeman finally recalls that “
the rules of pluralism guarantee the smooth running of democratic life. The CSA's mission is to ensure their fair application, while respecting the editorial freedom of the audiovisual media, which are solely responsible for their programming
”.
Last Thursday, the environmentalist deputy for Maine-et-Loire Matthieu Orphelin, challenged the regulator on this issue. He estimated in
L'Express,
that the rules decreed by the CSA were indeed flouted. “
Eric Zemmour's media interventions contain his campaign arguments. However the rules of the CSA do not authorize these interventions when the remarks made are likely to have an impact likely to undermine the equality of the candidates in front of the means of propaganda and the sincerity of the ballot ", which is clearly the case,
”he said. Before adding that Zemmour's interventions on CNews were "
comparable to a mini-meeting held every day, financed by private money, this is not normal!"
".
Before him, the MEP (LREM) Stéphane Séjourné had also proposed to count the speaking time of “
the most committed editorialists
”, like Eric Zemmour.
In the columns of
L'Opinion
, he had even declared that he wanted "to
specify the regulatory arsenal to help the audiovisual sector to respect the plurality of opinions
".
For the CNews channel, of which Eric Zemmour had become one of the flagship incarnations, this decision risks having the effect of a cold shower.
