Europe1.fr with AFP 10:50 a.m., February 18, 2024

The media regulator, Arcom, will have to extend its control of information pluralism in the audiovisual sector, beyond the speaking time of political figures. Guest of the Grand Rendez-vous Europe 1/CNews/Les Échos this Sunday, philosopher Michel Onfray returns to the subject.

Is freedom of expression in danger? The Council of State on Tuesday asked Arcom, the media regulator, to strengthen its control over the CNews news channel, and beyond that, control of all television and radio stations.

The highest administrative court “ordered Arcom to re-examine within six months compliance by the CNews channel with its obligations in terms of pluralism and independence of information”. The decision follows an appeal from the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which considers that CNews "has become an opinion media", which the person concerned contests. A decision which did not surprise the philosopher Michel Onfray, guest of the Grand Rendez-vous Europe 1/CNews/Les Échos this Sunday.

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“In public service, we can be prohibited from speaking and these are the people who talk to us about freedom of expression. When I was giving my course on Freud at the Popular University of Caen, people demonstrated and made a petition to France Culture to ban the broadcast of my course in the name of freedom of expression. It was wonderful, very Orwellian to imagine that, in the name of freedom of expression, we could prohibit the exercise of freedom of expression,” he began.

In detail, the highest administrative court requested that Arcom monitor that "the channels ensure, while respecting their editorial freedom, the pluralistic expression of currents of thought and opinions taking into account the interventions of the all participants in broadcast programs, including columnists, hosts and guests". A decision which, for some, resembles a listing of journalists and columnists. “I heard on your channel, Philippe de Villiers who said that it referred to the question of the files at the time of the Dreyfus affair. He is right, but I weigh my words carefully. It also refers to a time when he "There were triangles to signify who people were, red triangles for politicians, for example," he said. 

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