deputies adopt the LFI Saintoul report despite disagreements

This text will be made public on May 14. The presidential majority refused to sign nine of the 47 proposals, which will therefore appear as personal positions of the rapporteur.

Despite tensions and disagreements over its content, the parliamentary commission of inquiry into television frequencies adopted the report by LFI deputy Aurélien Saintoul on Tuesday May 7. This text will be made public on May 14, we learned from several of its members. The elected representatives of the presidential majority had asked the rebel to withdraw some of his 47 proposals, deemed too anti-CNews or C8, or off topic. Aurélien Saintoul then denounced a “blackmail” and an “attempted censorship”. He congratulated himself after the vote of a “victory of the rebels”.

The president of the commission of inquiry Quentin Bataillon (Renaissance) says he has found a solution “unpublished” : “the nine proposals that we consider unacceptable, out of 47, will appear as personal proposals of the rapporteur”, which allows the presidential majority not to endorse them. These are proposals “calling into question the future of TNT”, such as the elimination of the Canal+ group’s paid channel model. Another proposal “undermines freedom of the press”according to Quentin Bataillon, in that it suggests the renunciation of editorialists on news channels.

Numerous auditions over six months

The report was able to be adopted thanks to the votes of the left and certain Macronists, others having abstained. Initiated by LFI, the commission has heard over the last six months the audiovisual regulator, Arcom, the bosses of numerous public and private channels, as well as star presenters from C8 and CNews such as Cyril Hanouna and Pascal Praud. On the menu of the final report: the question of channel control, that of strengthening sanctions in the event of non-compliance with their obligations and again that of pluralism.

Aurélien Saintoul plans two reports to the courts, after study of documents and hearings of channel managers, he declared without further details. The MP made a “checks on documents and on site” at Canal+, in the hands of the renowned conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré. He himself wants the DTT authorizations of CNews and C8, owned by Canal+, not to be renewed.