“Being the first debate creates an event”, welcomes the boss of Public Senate

Christopher Baldelli, CEO of Public Senate, assures that his channel “never considered” canceling the debate, despite Jordan Bardella’s refusal to participate.

Christopher Baldelli is the CEO of the parliamentary channel Public Senate, the first to launch the media campaign for the 2024 European elections which will take place on June 8 and 9, 2024. The channel is organizing the first major debate on Thursday March 14, lasting two and a half hours, between almost all the heads of the list, at 5:00 p.m., live from the Strasbourg Parliament. A debate that some will consider too early, but which Christopher Baldelli clearly justifies: “Being the first debate really creates an event for everyone who is interested in politics. Beyond that, for our fellow citizens who need to understand national, international and European issues at the same time, it is when even the best way, in terms of pedagogy, for them to make their own judgment.”

“We never considered canceling”

The debate will only have eight heads of the list out of nine since Jordan Bardella will be replaced by MEP Thierry Mariani. The president of the National Rally in fact declined the invitation, arguing that it was “too early” even though he started his campaign 15 days ago. An absence of which Public Senate took note, specifying that it had never considered canceling this debate. “We have seven heads of the list out of eight, we have never considered canceling. Questions of pluralism are still at the center of democracy. The National Rally, we see in the polls, today represents a share important of voting intentions. It’s complicated to have a debate where he is not represented.” Christopher Baldelli also explains that Public Senate had initially envisaged a debate centered solely on the heads of the lists, starting from a simple principle: “If any party does not send us its head of list, it will not be present.” But this working hypothesis had been ruled out.

In the name of defending pluralism, In February, the Council of State asked Arcom, the media regulator, to better control speaking times on CNews, but also in other audiovisual media, including Public Senate. “The count of politicians reached consensus because it is objective and it is indisputable. believes Christopher Baldelli. Extending this counting of speaking times to columnists, presenters or editorialists would be “very complicated” : “I think there is a great risk for freedom of expression. Concretely, the decision of the Council of State does not provide instructions at all. It refers to Arcom.” He also sees it as a question of “principle”: “The hosts of programs, on a certain number of channels, starting with news channels, are journalists. This therefore potentially means that journalists must be counted according to what they they will say on a political attribution or school of thought. Objectively, it seems to me not only very difficult in practice, but it also seems to me to raise questions of principle.”

For Christopher Baldelli, respect for pluralism is what differentiates an opinion media from a news channel. “On audiovisual, radio, television, whether public or private, there is an obligation of pluralism the counterpart of which is that we cannot be an opinion channel.”