Representation of French society and fight against discrimination

In law, discrimination is unfavorable treatment which generally has to meet two cumulative conditions: it must be based on a criterion defined by law (gender, age, disability, etc.), and it must relate to a situation covered by the law (access to a job, a service, housing, incitement to discriminatory behavior, etc.).

To date, the law recognizes more than 25 criteria of discrimination.

The 25 criteria of discrimination recognized by law are as follows: age, gender, origin, actual or supposed membership or non-membership of an ethnic group, nation or so-called race, pregnancy, state of health, disability, genetic characteristics, sexual orientation, gender identity, political opinions, trade union activities, philosophical opinions, beliefs or actual or supposed membership or non-membership of a particular religion, family status, physical appearance, name, morals, place of residence, loss of autonomy, particular vulnerability resulting from economic situation, ability to express oneself in a language other than French, bank domiciliation.

Discrimination can also take the form of harassment based on one of the criteria defined by law.

Discrimination can be direct if the contested decision is based on one of the criteria defined by law. Discrimination can also be indirect if an apparently neutral rule results in unfavourable treatment of people on the basis of one of these same criteria.

Incitement to discrimination and instructions to discriminate on the basis of a criterion defined by law (e.g. instructions to a recruitment agency to reject applications on the grounds of age, origin, address, etc.) also constitute discrimination.

Arcom's expertise for a fair epresentation of French society

April 2006

The law of March 31, 2006 known as the "equal opportunities" law, completes Arcom's missions by adding toarticle 3-1 of the law of September 30, 1986, a legislative basis for the action it had hitherto undertaken on a purely conventional basis.

Under this article, Arcom is charged with contributing to: " actions in favor of social cohesion and the fight agains discrimination in the field of audiovisuel communication. In particular, it works with providers of radio and television services to ensure that their programming reflects the diversity of French society ".

March 2009

The law of March 5, 2009 on audiovisual communication and the new public television service strengthens Arcom's role in promoting the representation of diversity of French society. It also underscores the legislator's expectations of broadcasters, and France Télévisions in particular, in this area. From now on, Arcom must report annually to Parliament on the actions of TV channels in terms of programming reflecting the diversity of French society, and propose appropriate measures to improve the effectiveness of this diversity in all programme types.

January 2017

A new step has been taken with the law of January 27, 2017 on equality and citizenship which now gives Arcom the mission of ensuring "[...] that the diversity of French society is represented in the programs of audiovisuel communication services and that this representation is free from prejudice. ".

Arcom's powers in the fight against discrimination

Legislative powers

Articles 3-1 and 15 of the law of September 30, 1986 : Arcom's actions are based on the law of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, and more specifically on its articles 3-1, which enshrines its competence in the fight against discrimination, specifying that it:" contributes to actions in favor of social cohesion and the fight against discrimination in the field of audiovisual communication ", and on the last paragraph of article 15 which states that: " It finally ensures that programs made available to the public by an audiovisual communication service do not contain any incitement to hatred or violence for reasons of race, sex, morals, religion or nationality. "

Deliberations, agreements and regulations in force to fight discrimination

The aforementioned legal provisions are reflected in Arcom's deliberations, the agreements it signs with publishers, and the terms of reference of national program companies:

• The deliberation of November 10, 2009 tendant à favoriser la représentation de la diversité de la société française dans les programmes des chaînes nationales hertziennes gratuites et de Canal +. The text was amended on September 17, 2015 to include radio services;
• The deliberation of December 20, 2011 relating to the protection of youngsters, ethics and accessibility of programs on on-demand media services (SMAD);
• The November 20, 2013 notice on the treatment of international conflicts, civil wars and terrorist acts by audiovisual communication services;
• agreements with private television or radio providers;
• Terms of reference of national program companies: France Télévisions, Radio France and France Médias Monde.

Arcom's action for a fair epresentation of French society and its role in the fight agains discrimination

Arcom's action to promote diversity and fight discrimination on television and radio has two dimensions:

• Control : in the fight against discrimination, Arcom takes action against TV and radio channels that fail to abide by their obligations under the 1986 law, in their terms of reference for public channels, or in their agreements for private channels;
• An incentivisinig action : it carries out numerous studies on diversity and the fight against discrimination, dialogues with publishers, and draws up and signs charters.

Control action

Arcom's fight agains discrimination.

As with the other obligations it monitors, Arcom can intervene in the following ways:

• a regulatory reminder letter (informative or educational);
• a warning letter (letter noting a proven breach) ;
• a formal notice (a warning), the latter being a prerequisite for initiating legal sanctions proceedings.

Its incentivisinig action

Carrying out studies, drawing up and signing charters.

Since 2009

Barometer of the epresentation of French society

In 2014

Charter to promote the training and professional integration of disabled people in the audiovisual industry

In 2018

Study on the treatment of the diversity of French society in the news bulletins shown from October 9 to 15, 2017

In 2019

Charter on the representation of disabled people and disability in the audiovisual media

Focus on one of Arcom's productions that illustrates its approach and actions: the epresentation of French society barometer

Objectives and uses of the barometer

Aware of the central role played by the audiovisual media in shaping social representations and living together, in 2009 Arcom created , the barometer of the epresentation of French society. The aim of this tool is to assess the perception of diversity on television according to 7 criteria:

• perceived origin (perceived as: "white", "black", "Arab", "Asian", "other") ;
• gender (male/female)
• socio-professional categories ("higher socio-professional categories", "lower socio-professional categories", "inactive" and "marginal or illegal activities");
• disability (yes/no) ;
• age ("under 20", "20-34", "35-49", "50-64" and "65+");
• precariousness (since 2017);
• place of residence (since 2018).

By also taking into account qualitative criteria: the positive, negative or neutral role of the people involved in the screen.

Thus, since 2009, Arcom has been collecting data enabling it to track developments in the representation of diversity on TV channels, year after year. The annual publication of these results encourages channels to be even more vigilant in this area, since if their results fall, Arcom can remind them of the need to show more programs representing diversity, impose a no-return clause on them, etc.

This tool is also used by TV and radio channels, since every year, as part of the deliberation of November 10, 2009, they are required to make specific, concrete commitments to increase the representation of diversity in their programs. They use the results of the barometer to formalize their commitments.