In early June, to cover political news in the context of the early legislative elections, Europe 1 shook up its programming schedule by focusing on “On marche sur la tête”, a new show hosted by Cyril Hanouna, whose departure from the station was announced in 2016. Five days a week for 1 hour and 30 minutes, the presenter provided coverage of the legislative elections for the radio station, which belongs to the media giant Vivendi, whose majority shareholder is billionaire Vincent Bolloré, even if it meant attracting the wrath of several competing media outlets.
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Europe 1 in ARCOM’s sights
Starting on June 17, for two weeks from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the star presenter of C8 successively received figures from the right and the far right, such as Eric Zemmour, Robert Ménard, Julien Odoul and Marion Maréchal, which earned Europe 1 a reprimand from ARCOM, which reminded it of its obligations in terms of “pluralism” et of “honesty” with respect to “election news”.
This June 20, 2024, the day before the first round of the legislative elections in which the National Rally party led by Jordan Bardella and his allies represented by Eric Ciotti came out on top, the teams of “Le Monde” analyzed all 15 hours of live broadcasts hosted by Cyril Hanouna. Our colleagues mainly analyzed the speaking times of the participants.
Their calculation ensures that the Europe 1 debate program would have transformed into a “propaganda broadcast” during this electoral period. Indeed, “Le Monde” would have identified the deletion of several tens of minutes of live broadcasts in the relays of “On marche sur la tête”. The reason ? According to legal advice, passages contain personal and political accusations that could expose Cyril Hanouna and Europe 1 to legal action for defamation or violation of the presumption of innocence.
The left constantly crushed by Cyril Hanouna
Although he has repeatedly regretted not appealing to the left-wing parties, the presenter, whose speech represents 1/3 of the time of his show, would have sharply criticized the New Popular Front or the left as a whole during “30 minutes” against “2min30” for the presidential majority. As for the Republicans and the RN, the host would not have blamed them at any time.
If on June 25, Cyril Hanouna welcomed Arthur Delaporte, candidate of the Socialist Party, for the first time, according to the count of “Le Monde”, the politician would have been interrupted or contradicted “120 times in 9 minutes”, three times more than Laure Lavette, candidate of the RN who would have been interrupted only forty times in 11 minutes.
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Gilles Verdez’s invisibility on air is a cause for concern
On air and in an excerpt since deleted, the presenter had notably accused him of being “responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism in France” in addition to having a share of responsibility for the anti-Semitic rape which took place in Courbevoie last June.
As a reminder in its formal notice, the audiovisual regulator revealed that “the electoral news of La France Insoumise and the New Popular Front (…) had “been treated in a systematically critical and virulent manner, often in pejorative and outrageous terms”.
Another detail that caught the attention of our colleagues is that Gilles Verdez, who is in favour of the ideas of the New Popular Front, apparently spoke little either “2 min 30 on average” per show, in addition to being the systematic target of the host and his other columnists
