With the approach of the first round of the presidential election, the questions of the pupils who take part in the Vrai du Faux Junior again revolve massively around the issues of the campaign and the ballot and in particular around the speaking time enjoyed by each candidate on the radio and on the television.
“I heard that an organization calculated the speaking time of each candidate, is that true? asks Valentine.When do we start counting the speaking time of election candidates and who takes care of it? adds Calyste.
The editorial director of franceinfo Estelle Cognacq answers him:
“The speaking time of candidates, she explains, starts on January 1, this is the first phase of the campaign”. Then, she adds, there are three stages: a first part where it is equity between the candidates, without distinguishing the time slots. “VSThis means that all the candidates do not have the same time on our antennas, it is according to several criteria. First of all, representativeness at the level of Parliament and elected officials. Then there are previous election results and finally there are campaign dynamics.”
Estelle Cognacq adds that this first phase leads to the official proclamation of the candidates. “When this proclamation takes placeshe continues, there is a second phase where there is always fairness, that is to say that it is not the same weight according to the candidates, but this time by slice: 6 a.m. – 9 a.m.: the morning, our prime time, then 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., 6 p.m. – midnight and midnight – 6 a.m.. VSa, it’s for three weeks “.
Since March 28, it is the last time of the presidential campaign before the first round. “The, explains the one who supervises the counting of these speaking times at franceinfo, it is equality. The twelve candidates have exactly the same time on our antenna. A minute of one is worth a minute of all the others, and this by slice. A company counts all this for franceinfo and every day, this counter is updated.
These speaking times are then fed back to ARCOM, which monitors compliance with these rules”. ARCOM stands for French Public Authority for the Regulation of Audiovisual and Digital Communication, it is the successor of the CSA. One of its missions is to guarantee what is called pluralism in the media, i.e. the fact that the different political tendencies are well represented. , they can be found online on the ARCOM website.
“What are the consequences if the media does not respect the speaking time of presidential candidates? ” asks Alexander.
“Firstlyreplies Estelle Cognacq, I‘control authority, so ARCOM is starting to tell us beware, you are slipping, you are not doing the right thing”. The editorial director of franceinfo specifies having had feedback from ARCOM on the first two control times. The Regulatory Authority is, she says, “came back to each media saying be careful, there, you overexposed some, you underexposed others. So these are first indications, first feedback. Once we have been alerted for the first time, we can receive a warning letter”. If nothing changes, the next step is a letter of formal notice, then potentially penalties which can go as far as a ban on broadcasting for a certain time or fines which can be very heavy. “This is rarely the case”she continues.
“Is it true that the elections may not go as planned?‘ asks Lucy.
It is this time Julie Marie-Leconte, journalist in the political service of franceinfo, who answers him. “I imagineshe says, that you talk about what the polls say. Yes, it’s true. Voters may mobilize more or less than opinion surveys anticipateion ou vote otherwise”. The political journalist recalls that it happened 20 years ago, on April 21, 2002. “There wasshe explains to the students, a socialist prime minister named Lionel Jospin. Everyone, even him for that matter, was convinced that he would be in the second round. Eventually, he was eliminated. And the two who qualified at the time were Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen, the father of Marine Le Pen .
What can affect the results is also the fact that there are many people who, over the last few days, still hadn’t decided who they were going to vote for, or who weren’t yet sure of their choice.
“I have heard that young people are voting less and less. Is this true and why?” asks Calyste
“Yes, it’s true” replies Julie Marie-Leconte. “If we look, for example, at the last elections, which were the regional elections, the abstention rate was very high among young people: 87%. That saidshe adds, traditionally, the Presidential mobilizes more everyone, including young people. In 2017, it was not 18-24 year olds, but 25-29 year olds who voted the least in the presidential election“. The political journalist puts forward several explanatory factors: the gap between what concerns young people, young adults and candidates, the fact that young people are more involved in protest movements, in citizen movements, “with no doubt the feeling that it gives them more control and more chances to change things“.
There is also, she points out, “a claim which is quite strong and which is still not taken into account among young people: it is the blank vote which would make it possible to say that we do not agree with the proposed choice.”
Finally, Julie Marie-Leconte puts forward a final explanatory factor: incorrect registration. “Because when you’re between 18 and 24, or between 25 and 29, that’s when you study for the first category, or when you start working. And often, people stay registered, for example where they lived, with their parents or where they studied, then they move and then they forget to re-register. They remain registered elsewhere when the elections come and they cannot return to where they are registered.” So they end by being counted as abstainers.