“We cannot have an opinion channel”, summarizes the president of Arcom

“There is no question of entering into a cataloguing, into a file, into a labeling of all the speakers on the television sets or on the radio antennas”, however tempers Roch-Olivier Maistre.

“We cannot, within the legal framework in force in France, have an opinion channel, neither on radio nor on television,” summarizes the president of the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom), Roch-Olivier Maistre, Wednesday March 27 on France Inter. “We cannot have a media that only develops one school of thought”, he continues. This statement comes as the Council of State asked the media regulator to “reexamine compliance by the CNews channel with its obligations in terms of pluralism and independence of information”.

A “power of appreciation”

On February 13, theArcom announced that she could now “take into account the interventions of columnists and presenters” For “appreciate the respect by an editor of the pluralism of currents of thought and opinions”. “There is no question of entering into a cataloguing, a filing, a labeling of all the speakers on the television sets or on the radio antennas”, Roch-Olivier Maistre defends himself.

Speaking time is controlled by Arcom, the regulator, globally, both on the sets and in the recorded sequences. Beyond the usual count carried out for personalities who have a political mandate or who are registered, “the jurisprudence of the Council of State leaves the regulator a certain power of appreciation of personalities who have left political life in the sense that they no longer have a political mandate or that they are no longer included, but who nevertheless remain political actors”, explains the president of Arcom. He cites the example of Philippe de Villiers who, before joining Reconquête at the end of 2021, was not “no longer a member of a political party”, but was “present in the media”, especially with “stands considered to be stands of a political nature”.

Arcom, which refuses to file the speakers of the sets and studios, will rely on a “clue bundle” over time, explains its president. According to Roch-Olivier Maistre. The regulator will have to answer the following questions: “What are the themes dealt with? Is it dealt with by a plurality of participants? What sense of expression is taken on this or that theme over time? Is there a manifest and lasting imbalance or not ?”

The president of Arcom recalls that the basic principle of “editorial freedom of the media” prime. “An editor is completely free to choose the themes he wants to treat and the way in which he treats them, he is free to choose the speakers he wants to invite on his sets”, he assures.

On February 28, Arcom launched a call for applications for the reallocation of 15 DTT frequencies, which will expire in 2025. These are those currently occupied by the channels Canal+, C8, W9, TMC, TFX, NRJ12, BFMTV, CNews, CStar, Gulli, LCI, Canal+ Cinéma, Canal+ Sport, Planète+ and Paris Première. At the same time, a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the allocation of TV frequencies interviewed managers and figures from C8 and CNews.