Deliberation of July 21, 2009 on the principle of political plurality in radio and television services

Deliberation no. 2009-60 of July 21, 2009 on the principle of political plurality in radio and television services

The French Superior Audiovisual Council,

Having regard to Act no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, in particular Articles 1, 3-1 and 13;

Having regard to the decision of the Conseil d'Etat ruling on contentious matters no. 311136 of April 8, 2009;

After deliberation,

Resolves:

Article 1
Providers of radio and television services shall respect the following principle of political plurality:

I. - Interventions by the President of the Republic

Editors take into account those speeches by the President of the Republic which, by virtue of their content and context, fall within the scope of national political debate, as defined by the Conseil d'Etat decision of April 8, 2009.

II. - Interventions by other political figures

1° Speeches by members of the parliamentary opposition.
The speaking time of personalities belonging to the parliamentary opposition may not be less than half the speaking time resulting from the accumulation of, on the one hand, speeches by the President of the Republic as described above and, on the other hand, speeches by members of the Government, personalities belonging to the parliamentary majority and aides to the President of the Republic.

2° Interventions by personalities belonging to the parliamentary majority.
Editors ensure that personalities belonging to the parliamentary majority are given a speaking slot commensurate with their role in national politics.

3° Interventions by personalities belonging to parliamentary groups that are neither part of the majority nor the opposition, or to political groups not represented in Parliament.
Publishers must ensure that these personalities are given a fair amount of speaking time, taking into account the representativeness of the political groups to which they belong, in particular the number of elected representatives and the results of electoral consultations.

III. - Local plurality

By way of derogation from the foregoing schemes, in local or regional diffusion programmes, plurality must be ensured in the treatment of local or regional political current affairs, taking into account local or regional political balance.

IV. - Exception to the principle of political plurality

The principle of political plurality does not apply to opinion radio services.

Article 2
The speaking time referred to in Article 1 is understood to be the sole time during which a personality speaks.

Article 3
In accordance with article 13 of the aforementioned law of September 30, 1986, speaking time is recorded on a monthly basis. The Board assesses compliance with the principle of political plurality over the quarterly period in the case of newspapers and news bulletins, and over the half-year period in the case of magazines and other news programmes.

Article 4
The present resolution will be effective from September 1, 2009. The deliberation of February 8, 2000 relating to the methods for assessing respect for political plurality in the audiovisual media and deliberation no. 2009-34 of June 3, 2009 relating to the inclusion of speeches by the President of the Republic in the audiovisual media are abrogated with effect from the same date.

Article 5
The present decision will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.

Paris, July 21, 2009.

For the French Superior Audiovisual Council :

Le président,
M. Boyon