Paris (AFP)

The Superior council of audio-visual (CSA) considered that France Televisions had failed in its obligations in terms of honesty and rigor of the information, after the diffusion by France 3 of a photo of a demonstration of "vests yellow "retouched to hide an inscription" Macron clears ".

The footage in question went back to December 2018. France 3 had broadcast in one of its television newscasts, to illustrate the movement of "yellow vests", a photo (taken by an AFP photographer), showing policemen on horseback, facing demonstrators, Place de l'Opera in Paris.

On this shot, a sign bearing the inscription "Macron clear" had been retouched to remove the word "clears", a change that had sparked an uproar on social networks, and earned France 3 an avalanche of manipulation charges and censorship. Many viewers and the author of the sign, Jean-Baptiste Reddé (aka Voltuan), a familiar figure of the Parisian demonstrations, had seized the CSA.

France 3 and France Télévisions had immediately apologized to the viewers (as well as the AFP and the photographer who created the image) and pleaded that it was a "human error", and "a lack of discernment on the part of a person who contributes to the making of the television news ", and in no case of censorship.

In a decision taken this summer and unveiled on Monday by the FO syndicate of France Télévisions, which has just been notified, the CSA has considered that "the diffusion of a photograph thus modified, altering its meaning in a particularly sensitive context" , constituted "a breach of the requirement of honesty of the information" which is imposed on France Televisions, and "a failure with the obligation of rigor in the presentation and the treatment of the information".

The CSA, however, considered that it was not appropriate to impose a sanction on the public group, which "does not contest the existence of this breach, immediately took the initiative to inform the television viewers and the actors of the the audiovisual sector of the mistake made and to apologize for it ", and furthermore" implemented a series of measures (...) to avoid, in the future, the repetition of such failures ".

In this context, the CSA has put in residence France Televisions to respect in the future its obligations in the matter of honesty and rigor of the information.

© 2019 AFP