In this "formal notice" (an approach which has the value of a warning before possible sanctions), Arcom points to "many breaches of the obligation of equality", stressing that "candidates and their supporters have benefited of unequal speaking time and airtime" in the period from March 28 to April 8.
During this period, the rule of strict equality applied, calculated over four periods (morning, day, evening, night).
For example, on the morning segment, speaking times recorded on Europe 1 (Lagardère group, controlled by Vincent Bolloré) were 22 minutes for Anne Hidalgo or 27 minutes for Jean Lassalle against 35 minutes for Marine Le Pen, 36 minutes for Eric Zemmour and 37 minutes for Nathalie Arthaud.
During the day, Arcom recorded speaking times ranging from 16 minutes for Jean Lassalle to 28 minutes for Marine Le Pen.
In the evening, speaking times could, for example, range from 6 minutes for Nicolas Dupont-Aignan to almost 8 minutes for Yannick Jadot and more than 8 minutes for Emmanuel Macron.
The candidate who received the least speaking time in all sections was Philippe Poutou, but the radio "indicated (that he) had refused to intervene on his antenna during this period", indicates Arcom.
The same disparities are observed for the airtime of the candidates (broader time which includes the speech of the candidate and all that there is around, such as the description by a journalist of a meeting for example).
To justify its formal notice, Arcom indicates that it had previously sent Europe 1 a "firm warning" for "shortcomings" in the distribution of speaking time during the period from January 1 to March 7.
Asked by AFP, Europe 1 did not react to this warning.
© 2022 AFP