The audiovisual regulator, Arcom, singled out CNews for the “predominance” on the channel in the fold of Vincent Bolloré of “the same current of thought and opinion” on security, the war in Ukraine, immigration or Islam, in a decision made public on Monday.
Arcom, which responded to a referral from the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in January, has put CNews on notice to respect more the “pluralist expression of currents of thought and opinion”, under penalty of opening the way to possible sanctions, particularly financial, ten months before the presidential election.
Asked by AFP, CNews indicated that it did not wish to comment.
Before making this decision, Arcom services viewed 168 hours of the main CNews programs, such as “L’Heure des Pros”, “La Grande Interview”, “Morandini Live” or “Punchline”, broadcast in March 2025, the period targeted by RSF.
As a result, the regulatory body notes “the predominance of the same framework for interpreting current events, marked by a focus, through questions of internal security, on the threat that immigration and Islam represent for French society, the questioning, in particular on these questions, of the action of the executive and of the European Union and a strong distrust of the judicial institution, in addition to the systematic criticism of Jean-Luc’s La France Insoumise party.” Mélenchon.
“We noted a strong convergence of points of view in the treatment of the main themes discussed,” underlined the president of Arcom, Martin Ajdari, to journalists on Monday. The decision is dated June 12.
This is the first time that the regulator has commented on the question of the pluralism of currents of thought and opinion, a broader field than that of political speaking time. This competence was added in 2024 by a decision of the Council of State, already seized at the time by RSF.
With the 2027 presidential campaign in his sights, Martin Ajdari also announced that Arcom would equip itself at the start of the school year with monitoring on respect for pluralism on the four TNT news channels (BFMTV, CNews, LCI, Franceinfo).
