Should we count the speaking time of journalists and editorialists on radio and television channels? "I shout daredevil and danger," said Roch-Olivier Maistre, president of Arcom, the media regulator, Sunday on France 5. "Editorialists are journalists, they have press cards. Until further notice, I do not know of any administrative authority in a democracy that is beginning to control journalists, "said the number one of Arcom on the set of the program "C media". "This is part of the editorial freedom of a channel," said the senior official.
Roch-Olivier Maistre was questioned about the respect of political pluralism by the CNews channel, some of whose editorialists are known for their positioning on the right, like Eric Zemmour, former polemicist of the channel who became leader of the far-right party Reconquest!. "This rule", within the meaning of the 1986 law on freedom of communication, "is respected" by CNews, said Roch-Olivier Maistre. "That, really, I warn, I have said it many times in Parliament – the legislator will do what he wants, of course – but to start wanting to count journalists and editorialists, I shout +daredevil and danger +," he added.
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'Cutting off heads'
The president of the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) then considered that some referrals filed by listeners or viewers reflected "a form of intolerance" ambient. And the latter to give as examples referrals on a caustic song of a comedian of France Inter mocking Jesus Christ or an episode of the soap opera "Plus belle la vie" in which actresses evoked their wish to resort to surrogacy (surrogacy).
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It is not massive as referrals. But now, a columnist does not please you, a humorist does not please you, a soap opera does not please you, we seize the Arcom and the Arcom must immediately cut heads. No, that's not how it works," he said. The role of the regulator is also "to take a step back, from the distance," he said. In terms of humor as creation, "the regulator, of course, has an extremely high position of tolerance and not at all censor," defended Roch-Olivier Maistre.
