It’s a tightening of bolts that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
In a decision made public this Wednesday, the Council of State ordered Arcom - the media regulator - to better control the continuous news channel CNews on respecting its obligations of plurality of currents of political thought and d independence of information.
Including for hosts, columnists and journalists speaking on set, whose speaking time could be counted like political figures.
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The decision of the highest court caused an outcry on the right, where they denounced an attack on freedom of expression.
The President of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti, denounced, in a press release, a
“dangerous and worrying drift which undermines our fundamental democratic principles.”
Way for the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes to better castigate the
“cultural domination of the left.”
An indignation shared by the boss of LR senators.
“Who will judge whether a particular columnist or presenter belongs to a particular school of thought?
And on what criteria?
, worried Bruno Retailleau.
And to decide:
“Yes to the plurality of opinions but no to the questioning of freedom of information.”
“They think that basically 3% of audiences for CNews is unbearable!
(..) I want to be disturbed.
I want to hear things that are the opposite of what I think.
That’s freedom of expression!”
said the mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, co-founder of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) association.
Also read: Roch-Olivier Maistre: “Arcom will see if changes to speaking time should be considered”
A rule which must also “apply to public service”
After the broadcast policeman's reprimand, some on the right are now calling for the rule to apply to other media, particularly within the public service.
“Logically, the Council of State must therefore require that for each media outlet, the speaking time of all columnists or speakers be counted according to their supposed political orientation.
Starting with the public service of course..."
, reacted the head of LR's European list, François-Xavier Bellamy, while the institution gave Arcom six months to implement the decision.
Before asking:
“Who will judge?
According to what criteria?
As for her Reconquest competitor in the European elections, Marion Maréchal, she crushed the ideological bias of the Council of State.
And to depict an
“institution under socialist control which threatens freedom of opinion.”
“
Meanwhile, the public service is free to continue its activism with our taxes…”
she mocked.
“The speaking time of CNews columnists will therefore be counted as political speech.
And for the columnists from France Inter, France 2, FMM...?
, argued Reconquête senator Stéphane Ravier, who uses the same argument.
The left, for its part, boasted of a
“victory”
, several elected officials having contacted Arcom to sanction the continuous news channel.
“The Council of State agrees with us.
Exit the circumvention practices of CNews which replace political guests with editorialists committed to the editorial line of the channel to evade their pluralist obligation
,” rejoiced the environmentalist deputy Sophie-Taillé-Polian.
The elected official even launched a petition to remove the frequencies of C8 and CNews.
“Next step: demand that the CNews convention is not renewed and that this criminal channel can no longer broadcast on TNT
,” also argued his LFI colleague Sarah Legrain.