Avis du 4 janvier 2006 sur les dispositions relatives à l'audiovisuel du projet de loi pour l'égalité des chances entre les Français
The French Superior Audiovisual Council has been asked to give its opinion on the audiovisual schemes set out in the draft legislation on equal opportunities for French citizens and citizens of other countries, and after deliberation has issued the following opinion.
Article 17 of this draft legislation gives a legislative basis to the action undertaken for several years by the French Superior Audiovisual Council, on a purely conventional basis, with private television and radio service editors, in the fight against discrimination.
As a result, agreements with private TV channels now include a stipulation under the provisions of which editors' commitment is "not to encourage discriminatory behavior on the grounds of race, sex, religion or nationality; to promote the values of integration and solidarity which are those of the Republic; to take into consideration, in on-air representation, the diversity of origins and cultures of the national community".
Similarly, the French Superior Audiovisual Council is gradually introducing into the agreements of private radio stations a commitment by the provider of radio "not to encourage discriminatory behavior towards people on the grounds of their origin, sex, family situation, physical appearance, patronymic, their state of health, their handicap, their genetic characteristics, their morals, their sexual orientation, their age, their political opinions, their trade-union activities, their membership or non-membership, real or supposed, of a particular ethnic group, nation, race or religion ; to promote the values of integration and solidarity which are those of the Republic".
The French Superior Audiovisual Council therefore fully endorses this provision in principle, since it confirms the legitimacy of its interventions in this field, and will enable similar obligations to be established for public-sector audiovisual services, as the Council has already recommended on several occasions in its opinions to the Government on the amendments to be made to the terms of reference of national program companies.
Article 17 of the draft legislation makes provision for a new paragraph to be added to article 3-1 of the September 30, 1986 Act, the first sentence of which would read: "The French Superior Audiovisual Council shall participate in actions to promote social cohesion and fight agains discrimination". The French Superior Audiovisual Council considers that this first sentence could usefully be supplemented by the words "in the audiovisuel field", to bring it more in line with the French Superior Audiovisual Council's remit. Such an addition would also be perfectly consistent with the title of Section 3 of Title II of the draft legislation, which includes Article 17 ("Section 3 - Actions in favor of social cohesion and the fight agains discrimination in the audiovisuel field").
The second sentence of this paragraph makes provision for "Within the framework of the agreements it concludes with radio and television service editors, and taking into account the nature of their programming, it ensures in particular that programs reflect the diversity of French society". This wording summons the following observations from the French Superior Audiovisual Council:
- by linking this mission to the agreements that the French Superior Audiovisual Council concludes with radio and television service editors, it restricts its scope to radio and television services covered by article 28 and I of article 33-1 of the law of September 30, 1986, to the exclusion of services edited by national program companies and services covered by the declaratory regime provided for in II of article 33-1 ; in addition, this reference could be interpreted as not allowing the French Superior Audiovisual Council to adopt notices in this field, as provided for in the last paragraph of article 3-1 of the aforementioned 1986 law; the French Superior Audiovisual Council would therefore like to see the words deleted: "Within the framework of the agreements it concludes with the providers of radio and television services and" ;
- the wording to the effect that "programs" must reflect the diversity of French society could be understood as requiring that this obligation be respected in each individual program; the French Superior Audiovisual Council therefore proposes that this sentence be worded as follows: "Given the nature of their programs, it ensures in particular that the programming of radio and television services reflects the diversity of French society", it being noted that the term "programming" should be understood in its broadest sense, as including in particular program purchasing and production policies.
The French Superior Audiovisual Council also considers that, following the example of the modifications envisaged for private services in articles 28 and 33-1 of the 1986 law, it would be desirable for actions in favor of social cohesion and the fight against discrimination to be expressly mentioned in article 43-11 of the 1986 law, relating to the public service missions of national program companies.
Lastly, the Council wonders how this scheme could be adapted to radio services, community or denominational TV channels, and local and overseas France TV stations.