TV channels facing the Zemmour case: should potentially racist remarks be broadcast live?

With his face bent over a handwritten speech, Eric Zemmour, silk tie and black suit, announces his candidacy for the presidential election.

On Tuesday, the sequence with dramatic accents was almost inevitable: the four 24-hour news channels (BFMTV, CNews, LCI and Francetvinfo) broadcast part or all of the ten-minute video, on several occasions.

Was it necessary to broadcast without filter the words of a speaker follower of the theory of the "great replacement", condemned twice by the justice for incitement to racial discrimination and hatred.

The video moved many viewers, media and political figures, for its "shocking", even "fascist" character.

"Shame on these editorial directions," blasted the critical association of the media Acrimed on Twitter.

The CSA (higher council of audio-visual), him, was not seized.

To read also "Provocation to racial hatred": Eric Zemmour, a tribune in court

This was the case in 2019, when LCI broadcast live the intervention of Eric Zemmour at the "right-wing convention", organized by friends of Marion Maréchal.

The CSA had then received more than 400 reports and the chain had been called to order.

At the time, LCI's Society of Journalists dissociated itself from this broadcast.

LCI's SDJ dissociates itself from the decision of our management to broadcast live and in full a speech by Eric Zemmour, definitively convicted of incitement to racial hatred on September 17th.

- LCI SDJ (@SDJdeLCI) September 29, 2019

This time, LCI prides itself on being the only news channel that continues to have selected extracts from Zemmour's candidacy video, and not the entire sequence, "by editorial choice".

What will happen with Eric Zemmour's meeting on Sunday?

From a legal standpoint, live broadcasting protects the channels from any criminal liability in the event of remarks objectionable by law.

“Insofar as the channel cannot exercise this control of the antenna, since by definition the flow of information is instantaneous, it is no longer the publication director who is considered criminally responsible, but the author of the About ”, explains Me Tewfik Benzenoune, lawyer in press law.

"In absolute terms", during a direct, it is still possible to implicate the channel as an accomplice.

"But in reality, the question of the responsibility of the media is situated more on the philosophical and ethical ground than on the legal one".

"Reinforced" editorial presence at LCI

LCI has thus made it known that it will “naturally” broadcast Eric Zemmour's first meeting live, “as a candidate”. And to clarify: “So far, we have not broadcast the speeches live from Eric Zemmour because he was not a candidate for the presidential election. Obviously, it has not escaped us, in view of the condemnations he has endured, that it is a particular personality whose remarks are often controversial, indicates the direction of LCI. Nevertheless, we will broadcast his speech accompanied by a particularly robust device, with vigilance and an editorial presence in reinforced control in order to assess certain slippages and, if necessary, authorize ourselves to suspend the broadcast. "

At BFMTV, we fully assume the live broadcasts of the now "candidate" Zemmour. “In 2019, he was a polemicist in a far-right congress, not a candidate holding a meeting. It's a moment in political life, I have no doubt, says Marc-Olivier Fogiel, general manager of the channel. In the same way, we disseminated the candidacy of Anne Hidalgo in Rouen. We cannot talk about something that we do not show, the spectators could reproach us afterwards. "Asked about the previous convictions of Eric Zemmour, the person in charge is not dismantled:" In this case it is about a candidate that the whole of the polls place in second or third position. This in fact gives it a treatment which corresponds to the weight it represents at time T.Zemmour's candidacy is structured, supported by supporters. Journalists are not judges: we show reality as it is, then we frame it. Behind it, our journalist responsibility is to contextualize, clarify, fact-check, contradict. "

No live meeting on France info

Contacted, CNews, former employer of the far-right candidate, will "not comment."

"We are thinking about disseminating both the speech of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and that of Eric Zemmour", she replies.

The public service channel, Francetvinfo, will broadcast only extracts from Eric Zemmour's meeting, "those which seem important to us from an editorial point of view", specifies Sophie Guillin, director of the channel.

Same treatment for the other candidates.

“We may broadcast those at the very end of the campaign, but not right now.

We want to be able to ensure fair treatment between all applicants, but they do not all have the same means.

The objective, she assures, is also "to control the editorial of what we broadcast on the air".