Face à la censure" broadcast on October 15, 2025: intervention with BFM TV

Published on 23 April 2026 | Assemblée plénière 25 March 2026

  • Intervention
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Arcom was alerted to the "Face à la censure" special broadcast on BFM TV on October 15, 2025, during which a graph indicating the number of elected members of each parliamentary group likely to vote for the motion of censure then under discussion against the government formed by Mr. Sébastien Lecornu was broadcast.

Meeting as a college on March 25, 2026, Arcom deliberated on the matter.

Under the provisions of article 1 of the deliberation of April 18, 2018 relating to the honesty and independence of information and the programs that contribute to it "The publisher of an audiovisual communication service must ensure the honesty of the information and programs that contribute to it. [...] The publisher guarantees the validity and sources of each item of information. Wherever possible, the origin of the information must be indicated. Uncertain information is presented in the conditional tense. The publisher is rigorous in the presentation and processing of information".

Arcom found that while the figures displayed below the graph were in line with the data available at the time of broadcast, and that their presentation by the journalist was correct, their visual representation, on the other hand, did not respect the scale of values indicated for different political groups.

This erroneous presentation, likely to mislead the public as to the real balance of the political forces represented, thus appeared to constitute a breach of the requirements of honesty and rigor of information provided for by the provisions of article 1 of the deliberation of April 18, 2018, to which article 2-3-7 of the BFM TV service agreement refers.

Consequently, Arcom has firmly requested the channel to ensure, in the future, compliance with its obligations in terms of honesty and rigor of information.