CSA: will the speaking time of television editorial writers, like Eric Zemmour, be counted?

Mr. Chairman of the CSA,

With less than a year before the presidential election, the 24-hour news channel CNews is recording audience records, with a very conservative editorial positioning. A success that questions, even worries among political leaders. On Wednesday, in L'Opinion, Emmanuel Macron's adviser and MEP (LREM) Stéphane Séjourné estimated that "CNews has entered into excessive politicization" of its antenna, fearing "a Foxization of the French media landscape", with reference to the American channel Fox News, which is said to have greatly contributed to the election of Donald Trump in 2016.

In his sights: the growing place taken by chroniclers, commentators or journalists in the debates of opinion to the detriment of political leaders reduced, according to him, to “foil”. To curb what he qualifies as "hyper-editorialization" of programs, Stéphane Séjourné believes that "it is necessary to specify the regulatory and legislative arsenal to help the audiovisual sector to respect the plurality of opinions. And therefore, for example, to count in the speaking times of the politicians the most committed editorialists ”.

The MEP specifically targets Eric Zemmour, close to far-right circles and to whom we attribute presidential ambitions.

He speaks every day on CNews.

“It evolves in a gray area.

His political word is no longer counted anywhere, ”regrets Séjourné.

A "strengthening of the rules" should also make it possible, according to the Walker, "to give a greater share to international news and to guarantee the plurality of expressions by hours of audience and not of broadcast volumes".

At the end of last year, the site Arrêt sur images thus revealed that, to respect its quotas, LCI had multicast in the middle of the night an interview with Yannick Jadot.

The intervention of the MEP (EELV) had thus looped 31 times from 21 to 24 November 2020.

Under the audiovisual law of 1986, the CSA is required to guarantee "respect for the pluralistic expression of currents of thought and opinion in the programs of radio and television services, in particular for news broadcasts. political and general ”.

As president, do you think that the proliferation of public opinion debates endangers the principle of pluralism?

Would it be possible, as Stéphane Séjourné suggests, to count the speaking time of editorial writers on the channels, like Eric Zemmour?

The readers of Parisien-Today in France are eager to read your answer.

Roch-Olivier Maistre's response: "Such a count would run up against the editorial freedom of the media"

The president of the CSA, Roch-Olivier Maistre.

BERTRAND GUAY

The law, nothing but the law. "Nothing leads us (...) to count the speaking time of an editorial writer, except that he himself is a candidate or that he explicitly commits to the support of a political formation or of a candidate for election. Such a count would run up against practical objections and, above all, with the editorial freedom of the media, to which everyone is very attached. In any case, this count is not provided for by law, which is our only roadmap, ”replies Roch-Olivier Maistre.

The audiovisual law of 1986 notably requires the CSA to calculate the speaking times of only political figures on television and radio. “These rules, clarified by deliberations of the college of the CSA of 2011 and 2017, are different during the electoral period and outside the electoral period. They aim to guarantee formations and political figures fair access to the air, in accordance with our democratic life, ”he recalls.

On the subject of opinion broadcasts, Roch-Olivier Maistre believes that "it is natural that the debate is expressed in all the media, even in a lively, even controversial way", at a time when several polls are looming. "In this context, the primary mission of the regulator that is the CSA is to guarantee freedom of expression, and editorial freedom of the media," he underlines. It is an eminent, fundamental responsibility, at a time when intolerance or radicalization is expressed ”.