Host Christophe Beaugrand has just published a book in which he tells, with his husband, his journey of Gestation pour autrui (Surrogacy), an illegal practice in France, undertaken in the United States to become the father of a little boy.
Guest of numerous media (
Elle
,
Quotidien
, Konbini, Europe 1, Sud Radio,
C à dire?!
On France 5 ...), he was also a guest of the show
La Maison des maternelles
on France 2, Monday, October 11.
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Three days later, the collective La Manif pour tous announced that it had seized the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) after this intervention on France 2, a public service channel, denouncing
"propaganda"
in favor of the authorization of surrogacy in France,
"without any contradictory point of view being developed"
.
"During an 18-minute sequence, Gestation Pour Autrui is presented by the host, Agathe Lecaron, as a" marvelous ultra-moving adventure ", without any contradictory point of view being developed"
, s' outraged the collective, recalling that
"the use of surrogate mothers is strictly prohibited in France"
. Fiercely opposed to surrogacy, the collective believes that it is a
“reproductive exploitation which instrumentalizes women for their reproductive capacities”
and a
“commodification of babies”.
In its press release, the collective is particularly concerned about respecting the journalistic principle of the contradictory, thus using the expressions
"ethical surrogacy"
to describe Christophe Beaugrand's career in the United States, or even remarks that he considers complacent such as "
this which is very important is to remember that it is an altruistic gesture and that it is also very supervised
”.
The host, underlines the Manif pour tous, concludes with a protesting remark: "
It is by telling these beautiful stories that we will manage to change mentalities
".
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“The whole sequence is completely unambiguous, without the slightest contradiction, the slightest nuance or putting into perspective, without evoking the debates surrounding the very principle of this practice. (...) It is not journalism but activism with a bitter taste, of which women and children are the victims, ”
accuses Ludovine de La Rochère, president of the collective.
Previous seizure of a feminist collective and complaint against France Télévisions
In July 2019, the Collectif pour le respect de la personne (the Corp), which brings together several feminist associations, had already seized the CSA, denouncing the
"trivialization of surrogacy"
in an episode of the series
Plus belle la vie
broadcast on France 3. Without a response from the CSA a year later, the Corp then decided to file a complaint, in August 2020, against the France Télévisions group.
The association, led in particular by the philosopher Sylviane Agacinski, who campaigns against surrogacy, then considered that several public service channels were failing in their obligation of neutrality, after the broadcast of two documentaries favorable to surrogacy.
France Televisions had nevertheless refused to take sides.
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From a legal standpoint, the complaint has little chance of success,
"since the fact of becoming a civil party is reserved for cases of direct attacks on freedom of expression such as insult and defamation"
, explains Me. Thierry Vallat, specialist lawyer. But it could have brought the Superior council of audio-visual (CSA) to seize again the file.
The public service channels are set by a 2009 decree which is binding on the France Télévisions group and is available for each channel.
Article 35 clearly states that public service channels are required to respect plurality of opinions.
They must therefore, for example, invite during the debates interlocutors who reflect the various currents of opinion.
Interviewed by
La Croix
in August 2020, the lawyer Me Thierry Vallat explained that the appreciation of the pluralism of the opinions expressed on the public service channels was nevertheless done globally, on all the programs and over a year.
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Plus belle la vie
arouses controversy
“In itself, the broadcasting of a documentary favorable to surrogacy does not therefore constitute an offense. The judge will see if he has been counterbalanced by the broadcasting of other, more critical programs (...)
, he specified.
But France Télévisions could also have specified, at the beginning or at the end of the incriminated documentaries, that they did not represent all the sensitivities on the subject and recalled that surrogacy is prohibited in France. "
