The first one to say exactly what they think loses. Is Roch-Olivier Maistre playing this game when he calls Christophe Deloire, the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), this Tuesday, February 13? In any case, the senior official has an elegant defeat. The Council of State has just ordered its authority to pay 3,000 euros to the NGO; Above all, the judges considered that Arcom poorly applied the law on pluralism and the independence of television channels. “I’m over the moon. I’ve been fighting for this for five years,” said the senior civil servant to Deloire, according to the latter’s recollection. Arcom nevertheless produced an eighteen-page defense against RSF’s request.
The Council of State enjoins the authority to better implement pluralism on television, without simply counting the speaking times of political figures. This is because the CNews channel, channel 16 of TNT, has for several years brought about the emergence of a new category of speakers. Committed essayists, activists without mandate, politicized intellectuals. Strongly conservative preference. But where should we classify Jean Messiha, angry with Marine Le Pen as with Eric Zemmour, or Kevin Bossuet, “reactive” history professor, certainly, but never involved in politics? Same problem for the comments of the columnists of Figaroof Current Valuesand now Sunday newspaper…Are we going to file journalists?
“I’m waiting for Crif to seize Arcom”
Watching channel 16, there is no doubt about it. “Council of State: RSF against freedom of expression?” pings the banner broadcast at the opening of Time for the Pros 2, this February 13. “No media, obviously, is subject to this same jurisprudence. I am waiting for Crif, for example, to refer the matter to Arcom or the Council of State so that they can look at how France Inter or France Télévisions handle the attack Hamas terrorist on October 7″, editorializes Pascal Praud after a minute of broadcast. The presenter’s assertion is completely false: even if Reporters Without Borders’ appeal concerned CNews, the court decision concerns all media. The hierarchs of the Vivendi group are aware of this, they were parties to the trial, alongside Arcom.
In a seventeen-page memorandum, CNews maintained that it rigorously respected pluralism and the principle of independence included in the law. On this last point, wordus on the air. The channel’s defense was, however, straightforward: it explained that “no provision of the law of September 30, 1986 prohibits the shareholders of an audiovisual service from intervening in the determination of the editorial line.” Clearly, Vincent Bolloré would have the right to determine the editorial line of the media of which he is a shareholder. Here again, the Council of State disagreed. “The obligations of a service publisher in terms of independence of information are among those whose ignorance can be noted by Arcom not only with regard to a given program, but also with regard to the all of its operating conditions and the characteristics of its programming”, the judges ruled. For refusing to investigate the operation of CNews, Arcom is also condemned on this ground.
“Editorial freedom under surveillance”
For Pascal Praud and others, the essential thing is not there. It is about denouncing censorship, even though television media are not quite commodities like any other: as a “rare good” granted by the State, the allocation of a DTT channel presupposes accept certain public service obligations. The first to say exactly what he thinks has lost: the lying poker game between Arcom, RSF and CNews is not only about pluralism or independence. In the sights, there is the renewal of fifteen TNT frequencies… including C8 and CNews. Out of the question for Bolloré and its collaborators to cede their channels, obtained free of charge, for insufficient application of the law. Hence constant pressure on air… and even off air. This February 18, the Sunday newspaper, media of the Vivendi group, devotes four pages and its front page to “editorial freedom under surveillance”. The photo of Christophe Deloire appears on the cover.
But are we then going to file journalists? Provocative questioning, but legitimate. Difficult a priori to understand where to politically classify columnists, and a fortiori journalists holding a press card. In La Tribune Sunday, this February 18, Roch-Olivier Maistre does not provide any leads but warns that Arcom will now carry out “an overall assessment of all the programs broadcast”, and this from “the end of the month” of February. Way to show goodwill in the face of the demands of the Council of State.
Even RSF seems to be wondering about the modalities. Faced with Pascal Praud on February 14, Christophe Deloire did not appear extremely precise or keen on putting “global pluralism” into practice. He privately discusses the transparency of the status of guests, whether paid or volunteer. And also the proposals of the academic Julia Cagé, formulated in The world, February 15. The economist suggests now taking into account to classify personalities “the participation of speakers in summer universities or other political party conventions”, “contributions to think tanks attached to political parties or movements”, or even ” the signing of platforms of support for the candidates in the first round of the presidential election”. But it will then be enough for the guests to refrain from such commitments to remain “neutral” in the eyes of Arcom.
RSF also offers another method of calculation, not based on the personalities invited but on the subjects discussed and the tone of the interventions. It would thus be possible to characterize an absence of contradiction in the long term. It is up to Arcom to implement such a revolution… by ensuring that it does not turn into a gas factory.
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