The CSA has called on CNews to respect its obligations, particularly with regard to incitement to hatred or violence, following remarks by Eric Zemmour on Islam and the Algerian war, held in the broadcast "Faced with the news", in a decision published Tuesday. This formal notice constitutes a form of warning for the Canal + group's news channel. In CFS proceedings, such a decision may precede, in the event of repeated failures, a sanction which may range from the temporary suspension of a program to a withdrawal of the chain's authorization, to fines or advertising screens.
The journalist, writer and polemist, became mid-October the headline of "Face the news", a new daily program of CNews, launched soon after the controversy sparked by his virulent speech on Islam and immigration in late September at the "convention of the right", organized by relatives of Marion Maréchal Le Pen. And several of his interventions in the program presented by Christine Kelly (former member of the CSA) caused an uproar.
"Legitimization of violence committed in the past"
In particular that of October 23, in which he had assimilated Islam and Islamism, before referring to the Algerian war by saying, as a French, "on the side" of General Bugeaud who, when "arrives in Algeria, (...) begins to slaughter Muslims and even some Jews". These words, which for the CSA, violate several of the obligations of the chain, resulting from the law and its convention concluded in 2005, a text which codifies its engagements vis-à-vis the regulator.
Indeed, the gendarme of the audio-visual one considers that these remarks "could be perceived" like "a legitimization of violence committed in the past against people of muslim confession but also as an incitement with the hatred or the violence with regard to this same category of the population ". And he considers that the footage expressed an "insistent rejection of Muslim people as a whole, tending to encourage discriminatory behavior because of religion". In addition, the regulator believes that CNews, by broadcasting these words live "without reaction or even moderation" on the part of the presenter, has failed to maintain his control of his antenna, which is required in all circumstances .