Compliance with the principle of equal speaking and airtime for the period from January 1 to March 7, 2022: interventions

Arcom examined compliance with the principle of equal speaking and airtime in news coverage of the election of the President of the Republic, for the period from January 1 to March 7 inclusive.

At the end of this examination, it noted :

• on C8, the overexposure of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in terms of speaking and airtime. Arcom invited the channel to continue its efforts to apply the rules in force for the second period;

• on CNews, the overexposure of Éric Zemmour in terms of speaking and airtime, already reported on February 7 and 18 and March 3, 2022. Arcom has therefore firmly demanded that the channel exhibit candidates in a manner consistent with the principle of fairness during the second period of application of its notice of October 6, 2021, which began on March 8;

• on Sud Radio, the underrepresentation in speaking and airtime of Marine Le Pen and Valérie Pécresse, as well as the underrepresentation in airtime of Anne Hidalgo. It also noted the over-representation of Eric Zemmour in terms of airtime, as well as that of Yannick Jadot in terms of speaking time. Arcom therefore demanded that the station present the candidates in a more equitable manner during the second application period of its notice of October 6, 2021, which began on March 8;

• On RTL, the persistence of the strong over-representation of Eric Zemmour in terms of speaking time and airtime, as well as the over-representation of Yannick Jadot in terms of speaking time. It also noted the underrepresentation of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in terms of airtime, and of Anne Hidalgo in terms of speaking and airtime. Arcom therefore warned the station against repeating such breaches of the rules set out in the aforementioned notice;

• On France Inter, the overexposure of Éric Zemmour in terms of airtime and Yannick Jadot in terms of speaking time. Arcom invited the station to continue its efforts to apply the rules in force for the second period;

• On France Info, the persistent under-exposure of Marine Le Pen in terms of airtime. Arcom therefore demanded that the station be particularly vigilant during the new period, which began on March 8, to ensure that the balance of speaking time and airtime between all candidates complies with the principle of strengthening equity;

• On France Culture, the overexposure in speaking time of Yannick Jadot, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Anne Hidalgo. It also noted the underrepresentation of Valérie Pécresse and Marine Le Pen. Arcom has therefore made a firm demand that candidates be exposed in a way that is more in line with the principle of fairness during the second application period of its October 6, 2021 notice, which began on March 8 ;

• On M6, the underrepresentation of Valérie Pécresse in terms of speaking and airtime, and of Anne Hidalgo in terms of airtime. Arcom therefore invited the channel to continue its efforts to apply the rules in force for the second period;

• At Radio Classique , the principle of fairness was generally respected during the first period of application of the October 6, 2021 notice. However, Arcom noted the underrepresentation in speaking time of Anne Hidalgo, as well as the overrepresentation, also in speaking time, of Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen. It invited the station to continue its efforts to apply the rules in force for the second period;

• On TF1, the overexposure of Eric Zemmour in terms of speaking and airtime, and the underrepresentation of Valérie Pécresse in terms of speaking and airtime. Arcom therefore demanded that the channel be particularly vigilant during the new period, which began on March 8, to ensure that the balance of speaking and airtime between all candidates complies with the principle of strengthening equity;

• On TMC, the underrepresentation of Valérie Pécresse and Anne Hidalgo in terms of airtime and speaking time. Arcom has therefore demanded that the channel be particularly vigilant during the new period, which began on March 8, to ensure that the balance of speaking time and airtime between all candidates complies with the principle of reinforced equity;

• On LCI, Arcom noted the channel's efforts to correct the imbalances previously observed. However, it noted the overexposure of Eric Zemmour in terms of airtime, and the underexposure of Valérie Pécresse in terms of speaking time and airtime. Arcom therefore demanded that the channel be particularly vigilant during the new period, which began on March 8, to ensure that the balance of speaking time and airtime between all candidates complies with the principle of strengthening equity;

• On France 2, the overexposure of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot in terms of speaking and airtime, and the underrepresentation of Valérie Pécresse and Anne Hidalgo in terms of speaking and airtime. Arcom firmly summoned the channel's attention to the need to avoid repeating these imbalances in future election campaign periods;

• On France 3, the overexposure of Yannick Jadot and Fabien Roussel in terms of speaking and airtime, and the underrepresentation of Valérie Pécresse in terms of speaking and airtime. Arcom firmly summoned the channel's attention to the need to avoid repeating these imbalances in future election campaign periods;

• On France 5, Eric Zemmour was significantly overexposed in terms of speaking time and airtime, while Valérie Pécresse was underrepresented in terms of speaking time and airtime. Arcom firmly summoned the channel's attention to the need to avoid repeating these imbalances in future election campaign periods;

• On Franceinfo:, Arcom once again noted the overexposure of Yannick Jadot in terms of airtime and speaking time, and the underrepresentation of Marine Le Pen in terms of airtime and speaking time. She had already drawn the channel's attention to these imbalances on two previous occasions. She therefore firmly demanded that the channel present the candidates in a more equitable manner in future;

• On BFM TV, a strong and persistent overexposure of Eric Zemmour in terms of speaking and airtime. While Arcom has observed the efforts made, it notes that these have not enabled the imbalances to be eliminated before the end of the period. It also noted the underrepresentation in speaking and airtime of Anne Hidalgo and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. Arcom therefore warned the channel against repeating such breaches of the principle of fairness during the second period of application of the October 6, 2021 notice, which began on March 8;

• On RMC Story, the persistent overexposure of Eric Zemmour in terms of speaking time and airtime, and the underrepresentation of Anne Hidalgo and Valérie Pécresse in terms of speaking time and airtime. Arcom has therefore firmly demanded that the channel present the candidates in a fair manner during the second application period of the October 6, 2021 notice, which began on March 8;

• On RMC Découverte, the particularly marked overexposure in airtime of Emmanuel Macron, as well as the underrepresentation in airtime of Anne Hidalgo and Marine Le Pen. In addition, despite a less significant volume than on other stations, it noted the lack of access to airtime for several candidates, notably Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Philippe Poutou. Arcom therefore warned the channel not to repeat such breaches of the principle of fairness during the second period of application of the October 6, 2021 notice, which began on March 8;

• On BFM Business, the absence of on-air access for Philippe Poutou in particular, as well as the underrepresentation of Valérie Pécresse in terms of speaking and airtime, and the persistent overrepresentation of Eric Zemmour and Yannick Jadot in terms of speaking time. Arcom has therefore firmly summoned the channel's attention to prevent any repetition of such breaches of the principle of fairness during the second period of application of the October 6, 2021 notice;

• On RMC, the underrepresentation of Anne Hidalgo in terms of speaking and airtime. Arcom has demanded that the channel present the candidates in a manner consistent with the principle of fairness that applies during the second period.