D-2 before the legislative elections. From midnight on June 28, the lightning campaign for the first round of these legislative elections ends. It is therefore time to take stock. On its website, Arcom, the audiovisual policeman which ensures strict compliance with speaking times on French airwaves and channels, has made public an initial inventory. From June 11, the official start date of the campaign, to June 25, it seems that France Interpublic radio, has slightly favored the alliance of left-wing parties, the New Popular Front. Explanations.
Un humour anti-RN
France Inter counted nearly 7 hours 30 of political airtime, all parties combined. But on closer inspection, it would seem that the New Popular Front, which notably brings together La France insoumise (LFI), the Ecologists (EELV), the Socialist Party (PS), Place publique, the Communist Party and the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA), benefited from a slight advantage over its adversaries on public radio. From June 11 to 25, the date of the latest survey currently offered on the Arcom website, France Inter thus devoted 32% of its airtime to the alliance of the left (approximately 2h22), compared to 27% for the National Rally and its allies (approximately 2h01) and 27.5% for the presidential majority (presidential speeches included) .
A gap to which is added a differentiated treatment between the parties. Thus, if we look at the guests of the Big Interview of the morning show, the prestigious daily meeting of public radio, the National Rally plays the poor relation. Only Jean-Philippe Tanguy, outgoing deputy, was questioned at the microphone of France Interbetween June 11 and 25, to represent the colors of the party with the flame. Conversely, the presidential majority and its allies were able to speak four times (Édouard Philippe, Gabriel Attal, Rachida Dati and Jean-Louis Bourlanges, from the MoDem), during this very popular meeting. The New Popular Front, for its part, was able to count on the invitation of Lionel Jospin, on June 17. But the station played it short. The day before the start of the period for counting speaking times, that is, June 10 (remember that the period specially examined by Arcom runs from June 11 to 25), France Inter offered two major interviews to two eminent personalities of the New Popular Front: Olivier Faure, boss of the PS, and François Ruffin, outgoing LFI deputy.
On the other hand, it is clear that France Inter does not treat the different parties in the same way. The National Rally is regularly the target of radio columnists and editorialists who, under the cover of humor or sarcasm, do not hesitate to draw tendentious parallels. For example, we can cite the show by Charline Vanhoenacker, one of the station’s comedians, who took advantage of her last show to call for a vote against the National Rally. “If you are not homosexual, not feminist, not black, not Muslim, not poor, not trans, not green, not Jewish, not a civil servant […] so it’s true that [l’arrivée au pouvoir de l’extrême droite] shouldn’t change anything”, she quips with sarcasm, on the evening of her last column. In the same show, the comedian and his band performed a song associating the RN with the “Pétain’s France”The next day, Yaël Goosz, editorialist and head of the station’s political service, continued in the same vein by comparing the possible victory of the RN, during the vote on July 7, to the advent of Marshal Pétain in July 1940. All this without any sanction or formal notice from Arcom.
Formal notice against Cyril Hanouna
Conversely, Europe 1 was recently put on notice by the audiovisual police. However, the station observes strict compliance with speaking time, if we stick to the latest published statement. Indeed, 27% of speaking time was devoted to LFI and its allies, 26.8% to the RN and its allies and 27.5% to the presidential majority (presidential speeches included.) This is, moreover, not , not the respect for pluralism which is called into question by Arcom but the broadcast We walk on the headpresented by Cyril Hanouna, who reviews current political events. The regulator criticizes the presenter, in particular, for a lack of moderation and honesty “in the electoral news comments”. According to Arcom, the New Popular Front would thus have been “treated in a systematically critical and virulent manner, in often pejorative and outrageous terms”. Already, a few days after the launch of this program, Arcom had warned the station, reminding Europe 1 to its obligations in terms of « pluralism » and D’“honesty” during election periods. Warnings that France Interalthough a public radio station, did not receive them despite obvious shortcomings during the election period…
