Rima Abdul Malak renews its recommendation to Arcom, the audiovisual regulator, to check whether C8 and CNews “have complied [leurs] obligations” when deciding whether or not to renew their broadcasting authorisations.
Rima Abdul Malak, the Minister of Culture, invited Thursday, February 9 on France Inter, said to herself “worry” of the “threats posed by attacks on freedom of expression and creation” of the businessman Vincent Bolloré, owner of several media. The Minister of Culture quotes “a number of examples” occurred “in the last months and the last years”, within the media owned by Vincent Bolloré, Canal+, Europe 1, CNews, C8, also citing the eviction of Bruno Jeudy from Paris Match. Rima Abdul Malak sees it as “alerts on freedom of creation and freedom of expression”.
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“There have already been around twenty Arcom interventions since 2019 for C8 and CNews“, recalls the minister while wondering: “After how many interventions will the Arcom be able to say to what degree the obligations are not respected?”. In 2022, the audiovisual regulator notably gave formal notice to the C8 channel for “failures” in the handling of the case of the murder of Lola in Do not touch My TV. In 2017, the CSA, which became Arcom, also imposed a fine of three million euros on Cyril Hanouna’s show after a hoax deemed homophobic.
C8 and Cnews deprived of frequencies? “There have been around twenty Arcom interventions since 2019”, notes the Minister of Culture.
“I am just reminding you of the obligations” to be respected for “the channels which have access to free frequencies”, says @RimaAbdulMalak.#le7930inter pic.twitter.com/aX3sIgFMGk
– France Inter (@franceinter) February 9, 2023
Rima Abdul Malak believes that she is “in his role”, that of “recall the existing framework. There are obligations to respect, it is my role to recall it”she insists. “There are channels which have access to free frequencies in exchange for certain obligations, these obligations are in the law, they are very clear, there is respect for pluralism, the fact of dealing with legal cases with moderation, the creating a contradictory debate with all points of view on potentially controversial subjects”explains the Minister of Culture.
“It is the role of Arcom, when taking stock of its obligations, to check that they have been respected in order to then be able to assess whether the renewal of this frequency is justified or not”, continues Rima Abdul Malak. In a newspaper interview The worldin mid-January, it had already invited Arcom, the audiovisual regulator, to “look how [C8 et CNews] have respected [leurs] obligations” when deciding whether or not to renew their broadcasting authorisations. Arcom will make its decision in 2025.
Canal says it is “deeply shocked”
The Canal+ group, owner of the C8 and CNews channels, said Thursday that it was “deeply shocked” by the statements of the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak against its two channels. “We were deeply shocked by the remarks made by the Minister of Culture”lamented in a statement the group, a subsidiary of Vivendi led by billionaire Vincent Bolloré. “Nearly five minutes of his intervention were devoted to criticism of our group and to invectives against our channels C8 and CNews“, he points.
“By suggesting again that the licenses of our channels do not deserve to be renewed in 2025 even though she refuses to comment on the renewal procedure for other audiovisual players, the Minister is taking sides, of his reserve and does not respect the independence of our regulatorr”, says Canal +.