Program ethics

By law, Arcom is responsible for ensuring that audiovisual programs respect human dignity and public order. Arcom also ensures that the audiovisual media abide by professional ethics (cf: Article 1 of the law of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication).

Other legal texts provide the basis for our actions. For example, the law of July 29 1881 on freedom of the press condemns insult and defamation, and article 9 of the French Civil Code governs respect for privacy. These are all legal supports that legitimize Arcom's action.

This legal basis is reflected in Arcom's obligation to enter into agreements with publishers. The Authority draws up the agreements signed by private publishers. It is also consulted on the specifications of public publishers. As a result, Arcom has included clear provisions on content ethics in these agreements.

These include clauses requiring publishers to avoid complacency in evoking human suffering, to respect the different political, cultural and religious sensitivities of the public and to promote values of integration and solidarity, to verify and give the source of their information, to respect the honesty of their programs, to be rigorous in the presentation and treatment of information, to avoid misleading the viewer and to respect human rights.

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As a guarantor of respect for human dignity, Arcom has intervened on a number of occasions to sanction the diffusion of programs in which the human being was reduced to the level of an object. Humiliating and degrading acts, indulgence in the evocation of human suffering, disrespect for the deceased and the instrumentalization of the human body fall into this category.

Any incitement to dangerous, delinquent or uncivil behavior is liable to legal sanctions.

In certain dramatic circumstances, Arcom is called upon to check that the programmes being shown do not harm people's safety. In fact, in October 2016, Arcom drafted "Precautions relating to audiovisual coverage of terrorist acts" at the legislator's request, to enable the media to best reconcile the essential imperative of free information with other imperatives of general interest such as: the smooth running of judicial investigations and the preservation of the action of security forces or the protection of victims and their relatives.

Public health is also a component of public order. Arcom's mission is to ensure compliance with the provisions of the French Public Health Code. In 2008, it adopted a resolution regulating the display of unlawful drugs, tobacco and alcoholic beverages. Any image inciting consumption of these products or promoting them is prohibited.

On several occasions, Arcom has intervened with radio and television services to sanction incitement to hatred or violence on the grounds of alleged race, sex, morals, religion or nationality, as provided for in the 1986 law. It has used its power to sanction discriminatory comments, either because they were made by the hosts themselves, or because they came from listeners and viewers and the program hosts had not intervened to interrupt or moderate them.

In particular, publishers are obliged to verify and give the source of their information, to demonstrate honesty and rigor in their presentation and treatment, and to avoid misleading viewers. They must ensure that the news programmes they show are produced under conditions that guarantee the independence of the information, particularly with regard to the economic interests of their shareholders.

Publishers must pay particular attention to respecting the presumption of innocence and the anonymity of person-under-18s. They must also take care to treat these cases with moderation, rigor and honesty, while respecting the plurality of points of view.

Arcom contributes to the respect of personal rights relating to privacy, image, honor and reputation, as defined by law and jurisprudence, including the prohibition of insult and defamation. When Arcom receives complaints from interested parties, it can intervene to protect their personal rights.

On August 2, 2011, a partnership agreement was signed between Arcom's Chairman and the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté, the guarantor of the fundamental rights of people deprived of their liberty, marking an important milestone in the area of respect for the right to image and to be forgotten by those involved in current or past legal cases.
The aim of the agreement is to facilitate case handling and collaboration on work of common interest.

The emergence of reality TV shows led Arcom to issue a notice on May 14 2001, the principles of which have been incorporated into the agreements, to ensure that the spirit of exclusion is not overemphasized, and that defamatory or insulting remarks are not made about the participants. Broadcasters are obliged, on the one hand, to provide participants with a permanent location where no recordings may be made and, on the other, to make provision for daily respite periods of significant and reasonable duration, without any audio or visual recordings or diffusions. Participants must be clearly informed of the capabilities of the technical recording scheme, in particular the location and number of cameras and microphones, and the existence of infrared cameras or one-way mirrors. For safety reasons, the production team may monitor the lives of participants, but without recording or diffusion.

In order to protect public health, which is a component of public order, Arcom adopted a resolution on December 4, 2007 requiring the wearing of condoms in pornographic programs shown on television services. The decision was based on the risk of spreading sexually-transmitted diseases, as pornographic programs that do not include the wearing of condoms endanger the lives of the actors and trivialize risky behavior among viewers, particularly youngsters.

The financing of programs by local authorities was the subject of a notice issued on January 4, 2007, which demands that the service editors concerned comply with the following rules concerning financed or sponsored programs:

• elements relating to the content and programming of the sponsored program must not be the subject of agreements likely to undermine responsibility and editorial independence with the local authority
• the sponsor must be clearly identified at the beginning or end of the program
• during the program, only an occasional, discreet mention of the sponsor is possible
• finally, the presence and intervention of one or more officials from the local authority that sponsored the program is permitted, provided that it is occasional and measured, that the choice of the official(s) intervening or mentioned reflects a concern for objectivity, impartiality and plurality, and that the intervention is not of a political nature.

The use of procedures to collect images and sounds without the knowledge of the persons filmed or recorded must be limited to the needs of public information. It must be restricted to cases where it enables information to be obtained that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. The public must be informed of the use of these procedures. It must not be possible to identify people or places, except in exceptional circumstances, or if the consent of the persons concerned has been obtained before the program is diffused. These details are set out in the channel agreements and specifications.