After four months of hearings, the Senate Commission of Inquiry into Media Concentration released a report containing 32 proposals to better regulate the media landscape.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
“An absolute necessity in a world threatened by misinformation.” The Senate Committee of Inquiry into Media Concentration called on Thursday March 31 to modernize rules “obsolete”. In a 381-page report, the senators make 32 proposals to better regulate the media landscape.
The senators propose, for example, to strengthen independence and ethics within the media by means of an independent administrator, Arcom (ex-CSA), and to organize a major debate in Parliament where the government would present its conclusions to reform the Freedom of Communication Act of 1986, passed at a time when the Internet giants did not exist.
In their report, the senators also believe that it is necessary to “revise the conditions for granting aid for pluralism and modernization by taking into account the financial situation of the groups to which the candidate titles are attached”.
Concerns for pluralism
Between the end of November and the beginning of March, this commission made up of 21 senators had conducted 48 public hearings, summoning 82 people to the Senate. Among them, all the major players in the sector, ranging from major industrial bosses, media owners, such as Bernard Arnault, Vincent Bolloré, Martin Bouygues, to independent media and unions, were heard.
>> Media: what to remember from Vincent Bolloré’s hearing in the Senate
This report is published in a context of concerns about the pluralism of the press, between the planned merger between TF1 and M6 or the attack by Vivendi (owner of Canal+) on Lagardère (Europe 1, The Sunday newspaper, Paris Match).