Les Points sur les i" show to be broadcast on November 21, 2021: CNews served with formal notice

The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication,

Having regard to Act no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, in particular Articles 1, 3-1, 28 and 42;

Having regard to decision no. 2005-473 of July 19, 2005, amended and extended, authorizing the Société d'exploitation d'un service d'information (S.E.S.I.) to use a radioelectric resource to operate a national television service broadcast free-to-air by terrestrial hertzian means in digital mode initially called "i Télé" and then, as of decision no. 2016-680 of July 27, 2016, "CNEWS", and decision no. 2019-582 of December 11, 2019 extending the authorization of July 19, 2005 ;

Having regard to the agreement entered into between the French Superior Audiovisual Council and the Société d'exploitation d'un service d'information (S.E.S.I.), on November 27, 2019, concerning the Cnews television service, in particular articles 2-2-1, 2-3-7 and 4-2-1 ;

Having regard to deliberation no. 2018-11 of April 18, 2018 of the French Superior Audiovisual Council relating to the honesty and independence of news and the programs that contribute to it, in particular article 1;

Considering the broadcast report on the program "Les Points sur les i" shown on the "Cnews" service on November 21, 2021;

Considering the following:

On the legal manager:

1. Firstly, by virtue of the provisions of article 42 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 and the stipulations of article 4-2-1 of the agreement of November 27, 2019, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication may give formal notice to the Société d'exploitation d'un service d'information (S.E.S.I.) to abide by the obligations imposed on it.

2. Secondly, under the provisions of the third paragraph of article 3-1 of the Act of September 30, 1986, "the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication guarantees the honesty, independence and plurality of information and the programs that contribute to it, subject to article 1 of [this] Act ", which affirms the principle of freedom of communication to the public by electronic means. On this basis, article 1 of the deliberation of April 18, 2018 stipulates that the publisher " must ensure the honesty of the information and programs that contribute to it. / [...] / It shall provide rigorous evidence in the presentation and treatment of information. / It shall ensure respect for an honest presentation of controversial issues, in particular by ensuring the expression of different points of view by journalists, female presenters, hosts or on-air contributors ". Furthermore, article 2-3-7 of the November 27, 2019 agreement stipulates that " the requirement of honesty applies to all programs. The publisher shall comply with the deliberations of the French Superior Audiovisual Council on the honesty and independence of news and related programs". Finally, article 2-2-1 of this agreement makes provision for "the publisher to be responsible for the content of the programs it shows. In all circumstances, it retains control of its broadcasting schedule ".

On the program "Les Points sur les i" shown on November 21, 2021:

3. The broadcast report for the "Les Points sur les i" program on November 21, 2021 shows that during this current affairs debate program, the guest of the day spoke about the covid-19 pandemic.

With regard to the obligation of honesty and rigor in the presentation and processing of information:

4. First of all, the broadcast report shows that the guest spoke about the fifth wave of the covid-19 epidemic. In particular, he denied the existence of the latter, declaring that " about this fifth wave [...] if it wasn't so dramatic, I'd laugh, because there is no fifth wave. Uh, the epidemic is almost over in France, there are a few dozen deaths every day ".

5. World Health Organization figures showed an increase in the number of new cases in France, from 6,329 on November 1, 2021 to 20,847 on November 20, 2021. The day before the broadcast, the Conseil Scientifique had also issued an alert on the epidemiological situation, which its president had already done a few days earlier, indicating that a fifth wave had begun in early October 2021.

6. The broadcast report also shows that the guest spoke about the efficacy of certain covid-19 treatments. On this subject, he stated in particular that " if we [...] had treated [these people], there would have been almost no deaths, because, all the doctors, all the experience of doctors in the world and countries that have treated have shown that if we treated with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, ivermectin, there were no deaths ".

7. Under these conditions and in the light of the context at the time, the guest's statements on the non-existence of a fifth wave and the imminent end of the covid-19 epidemic in France, on the one hand, and the assertion that the use of certain treatments to treat covid-19 patients would have prevented all deaths, on the other, clearly did not reflect, in the light of the information available at the time, the reality of the health situation in France and medical knowledge. On the one hand, this guest was the only member of the medical profession present on set and, on the other, these statements were not sufficiently contradicted by those present on set.

8. Consequently, the publisher failed to comply with its obligation to demonstrate honesty and rigor in the presentation and processing of information on the pandemic. It has thus breached the stipulations of article 2-3-7 of its agreement and the provisions of article 1 of the deliberation of April 18, 2018, to which it refers.

With regard to the obligation to express different points of view on controversial issues :

9. It is also clear from the broadcast report that the guest expressed his views on the consequences of administering messenger RNA vaccines on the human genome. In particular, he stated that these vaccines are " experimental therapeutic substances that will modify your cells. It's not me who's saying it, there's a big executive from a big laboratory that manufactures uh messenger RNA vaccines uh who said it a few months ago. He said, 'When we inoculate you with this product, it's like downloading software to modify your cells'. People's cells are being modified and the number of side effects is exploding. It's enormous! I see plenty of them around me, and dead people too ". No one present on set questioned this statement.

10. Thus, the guest on the show expressed himself extremely peremptorily on the consequences of administering messenger RNA vaccines on the human genome, without his thesis having been discussed by those present on set. Only his opinion was presented, resulting in a marked imbalance in the treatment of this subject, when its controversial nature required the expression of different points of view. This situation characterizes a breach by the publisher of the stipulations of article 2-3-7 of its agreement and the provisions of article 1 of the deliberation of April 18, 2018, to which it refers.

With regard to the obligation to control the airwaves :

11. It is also clear from the broadcast report that the guest's various comments taken as a whole did not elicit a sufficiently marked reaction from those on set during the sequence, which characterizes a failure to control the airwaves, constituting a breach of the stipulations of article 2-2-1 of the agreement.

12. It follows from the foregoing that the Société d'exploitation d'un service d'information (S.E.S.I.) to comply, in the future, on the one hand, with the aforementioned stipulations of article 2-3-7 of the November 27, 2019 agreement and with the provisions of article 1 of deliberation no. 2018-11 of April 18, 2018 of the French Superior Audiovisual Council relating to the honesty and independence of news and the programs that contribute to it and, on the other hand, with article 2-2-1 of the same agreement.

After deliberation,

Resolves :

Article 1

Société d'exploitation d'un service d'information (S.E.S.I.) is hereby given formal notice to comply, in the future, with respect to the "Cnews" television service, on the one hand, with the aforementioned stipulations of article 2-3-7 of the agreement of November 27, 2019, as well as with the provisions of article 1 of deliberation no. 2018-11 of April 18, 2018 of the French Superior Audiovisual Council relative to the honesty and independence of news and the programs that contribute to it, and on the other hand, with article 2-2-1 of this same agreement.

Article 2

The present decision will be notified to the Société d'exploitation d'un service d'information (S.E.S.I.) and published in the Journal officiel de la République française.

Paris, May 10th 2022.

For the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication :
The Chairman,
R.-O. Maistre