Notice on the referendum on reducing the length of the presidential term (September 24, 2000)

I - News related to the referendum

1°) Radio and television services shall ensure that all political organizations have fair presentation and access to the airwaves.
In the case of personalities who do not belong to political organizations, radio and television services shall ensure that the diversity of points of view is respected.

2°) The reports, comments and presentations to which the consultation gives rise must be presented by the editorial staff with a constant concern for balance and honesty. Editors must ensure that the choice of extracts from statements and writings by political figures, and the comments to which they may give rise, do not distort the general meaning.

3°) With regard to news programmes or specials, the Council demands that departments pay close attention to their invitation policy, so that the principle defined in 1°) above is respected.

4°) In news programmes other than news programmes, the Council considers that it is advisable to avoid consultation-related interventions which could not be balanced during the period of application of the aforementioned notice under the same programming conditions.

II - News not related to the referendum

With regard to the coverage of national and international news, radio and television services must respect a balance between the time devoted to members of the government, to personalities belonging to the parliamentary majority and to personalities belonging to the parliamentary opposition, and ensure comparable programming conditions. In addition, broadcasters must ensure that personalities belonging to political parties not represented in Parliament are given a fair amount of airtime.
For regional or local programs, local or regional television stations, or national television or radio stations with local or regional opting-outs, ensure coverage of regional or local news, taking into account local or regional political balance.

III - Other obligations

1°) Transmission to the Council of statements and conservation of tapes
a) Records
RFO for its television programs, France 3 and M6 for their regional and local programs, local private television stations, LCI, Euronews, TV5 and i télévision are required to send the Conseil statements of speaking time by political figures for an initial period from August 21 to September 1 inclusive, and then on a weekly basis.
Other cable television services must be able to provide the Conseil, at its request, with details of the speaking times of political figures on their channels.
For its radio program, RFO, Radio France, Europe n°1, RMC and RTL are required to provide the Conseil with statements of the speaking times of political figures for an initial period from August 21 to September 1 inclusive, then on a weekly basis.
Other radio stations with news programmes must be able to provide the Conseil, at its request, with details of the speaking times of political figures on their airwaves.

b) Retention of tapes
France 3, RFO and M6, for their regional or local programs, local private television stations and cable television services must keep the visual tapes of the various programs concerning the election campaign at the disposal of the Council or a correspondent designated by it.
RFO, Radio France, Europe n° 1, RMC, RTL, and other radio stations with news programmes must keep at the disposal of the Council, or a correspondent designated by it, the audio tapes of the various broadcasts concerning the election campaign.

2°) Specific obligations
Radio and television services must ensure that any use made of audiovisual archives containing images or words by public figures :
- does not give rise to editing or use likely to distort the original meaning of the document;
- is systematically accompanied by the source and date.

IV - Miscellaneous provisions

- The Council will draw up statements of speaking time and airtime devoted by TF1, France 2, France 3, M6 and Canal+ to speeches by political organizations relating to the referendum for an initial period from August 21 to September 1 inclusive, then on a weekly basis;
- Direct expression broadcasts by political organizations are suspended from September 1 to 24, 2000.
- Article 14 of the law of September 30, 1986, as amended, prohibits radio and television advertising of a political nature.
- Radio and television services will ensure compliance with the provisions of the articles of the Electoral Code made applicable by the decree on the referendum campaign, in particular :
- in accordance with article L.49, paragraph 2, of the Electoral Code, as of 0.00 a.m. on the eve of the vote, it is forbidden to show or have shown, by any means of audiovisuel communication, any message having the character of electoral propaganda;
- in accordance with article L.52-2 of the French Electoral Code, no election results, partial or definitive, may be communicated to the public, by any means of audiovisual communication, before the shutdown of the last polling station in mainland France; the same applies in overseas France and in the territorial authorities before the shutdown of the last polling station in each of the departments, territories and territorial authorities concerned;
- in accordance with article 11 of the amended law of July 19, 1977 on the publication and distribution of certain opinion polls, the diffusion and commentary of any poll directly or indirectly related to the election are prohibited by any means during the week preceding the election and during the election itself.

Analysis of the main schemes
The purpose of the French Superior Audiovisual Council's notice is to define the conditions for news coverage not only during the official campaign period, which begins on Monday September 11 at 0:00, but also in the weeks leading up to it.
Monday August 21 has been chosen as the starting point for the application of the notice, as it corresponds a priori to the start of the new political season, with the summer universities taking place this week.
In its notice, the Council distinguishes, as usual, between referendum-related news and non-referendum-related news.
By "non-related news" we mean all political interventions on subjects other than the electoral campaign, which have no direct or indirect link with it. The audiovisual media are demanded to respect the French Superior Audiovisual Council's recently defined principle of plurality outside elections, which replaces the three-thirds rule. Thus, when dealing with national or international current affairs, radio and television services must respect a balance between the time spent by members of the government, personalities belonging to the parliamentary majority and personalities from the parliamentary opposition, and ensure comparable programming conditions. In addition, broadcasters must ensure that personalities belonging to political parties not represented in Parliament are given a fair amount of airtime.
In the case of regional and local programs, local and regional television and radio stations, and national television and radio stations that have opting-outs, must ensure coverage of regional and local news, taking account of local and regional political balance.
In the case of news related to the referendum, the French Superior Audiovisual Council must guarantee a balance in the expression of political parties, and not retain a balance between the yes and no sides. Indeed, according to article 4 of the Constitution, political parties and groupings contribute to the expression of suffrage. It is therefore traditional, on the occasion of a referendum, to allocate to them the speaking time of the official campaign broadcasts.
The French Superior Audiovisual Council considers that the same principle should be applied to the program's broadcasts. It therefore demands that the audiovisual media ensure that all political organizations benefit from fair presentation and access to the airwaves. This principle is in line with what the French Superior Audiovisual Council generally applies during elections, as well as with the new principle it applies to plurality outside election periods. The aim is therefore to ensure that personalities belonging to political parties not represented in Parliament are also given a fair amount of airtime.
The notion of fairness is to be distinguished from that of equality, which the Electoral Code only makes provision for between candidates during the official campaign period of the presidential election.
The assessment of the notion of fairness must be based, in particular, on the representativeness of the political organizations involved, which can be evaluated by taking into account the number of elected representatives in the national parliament, as well as the dynamics of the electoral campaign and related events (political meetings, debates, forums). But it is also important that all political organizations, even those with no parliamentary representation, should have real access to the airwaves, and that none should be excluded on the pretext of being marginal.
In keeping with the principle of fairness between all political organizations, it is also necessary to reflect the diversity of viewpoints that may exist within the same political group.
In its notices concerning elections, the French Superior Audiovisual Council places the requirement of plurality not only on the lists or candidates who stand for election, but also on the personalities who support them. While the notion of support for a list or candidate has no meaning in the case of a referendum, the fact remains that non-political or political personalities who do not belong to a political organization as such will certainly be called upon to express themselves on the airwaves by taking a position in favor of the yes, the no or abstention. For this reason, the French Superior Audiovisual Council demands that the diversity of points of view of personalities who do not belong to political organizations be respected.
As is tradition, the President of the Republic's comments, whether related to the referendum or not, are not linked to any organization. As it regularly does during elections, and depending on the circumstances, the French Superior Audiovisual Council may not take into account the speaking times of political organizations that express themselves in reaction to remarks made by the Head of State.
The notice also contains other provisions concerning the ethics of information during campaign periods, which are traditionally mentioned in all French Superior Audiovisual Council notices. In this respect, the importance of the following three legal provisions should be highlighted:
- No message or intervention having the character of electoral propaganda may be shown from midnight on the eve of the ballot (i.e. Friday September 22) - article L.49, paragraph 2, of the electoral code.
- No poll results may be revealed during the week preceding the vote, pursuant to article 11 of the amended law of July 19, 1977 on the publication and diffusion of certain opinion polls. Whatever one's opinion on the obsolescence or otherwise of this text, the law on opinion polls has not been abrogated, and therefore applies. This is what the Conseil d'Etat reiterated following a contentious appeal lodged during the European elections, specifying in its ruling that a change in a factual situation, namely the limits to the effective application of the law on opinion polls, cannot affect the obligation to ensure its application.
- Lastly, no polling results, partial or definitive, may be shown before the last polling station has shut down. The French Superior Audiovisual Council intends to ensure that this rule is rigorously respected by all.

Assessing the principle of fairness: the timetable
The CSA will enforce its notice in two ways. Firstly, through any complaints it may receive. Secondly, by examining statements of speaking time, to ensure that everyone has fair access to the airwaves.
The French Superior Audiovisual Council will itself record the airtime and speaking time allocated to each political organization on TF1, France 2, France 3, Canal+ and M6.
The notion of airtime includes, as usual :
- the launch of a subject or documentary devoted to a political organization by the female news broadcast presenter, or repeats of remarks made by a representative of a political organization by the same presenter;
- comments accompanying a documentary on a political organization (travel, participation in a meeting, leaflet distribution, etc.).
Added to this are the speaking times of representatives of political organizations.
However, airtime does not include :
- political editorials that do not concern a particular political organization (general campaign news in the run-up to the election);
- editorials critical of one or more political organizations;
- comparative analyses.
With regard to the notion of speaking time allocated to each political organization, in the strict sense this refers to the speaking time of the representatives of these political organizations.
The need for both counts stems from the fact that, in many cases, political organizations are mentioned on air without their representatives necessarily having the opportunity to speak, or only very briefly.
In addition, a distinction is made between news broadcasts on the one hand, and news magazines or debate specials on the other. Each of these two categories is counted separately, due to the programming rhythm of magazines and special programs: the balance of invitations in magazines and special programs must therefore be respected specifically for this category of programs. Finally, as regards the other news programmes (documentaries, variety shows, talk shows, etc.), it would seem preferable to avoid election-related interventions, which would be difficult to balance out over the period, as these programmes, unlike news programmes or specials, are not intended to regularly feature political guests.
In the case of radio stations, thematic TV channels, and regional or local stations of certain national channels, statements of speaking time will be drawn up by them and sent to the French Superior Audiovisual Council's program department.
The French Superior Audiovisual Council will assess compliance with the principle of fairness in news broadcasts and news magazines over the entire period from August 21 to September 24. But the Conseil cannot wait until September 24 to know whether this fairness has been achieved. It will therefore be sending TF1, France 2, France 3, Canal + and M6 :
- an initial report on airtime and speaking time, together with the French Superior Audiovisual Council's assessment for the period from Monday August 21 inclusive to Friday September 1 inclusive;
- the other reports will be drawn up each week thereafter, from Saturday September 2 inclusive to Friday September 8 inclusive, then from Saturday September 9 inclusive to Friday September 15 inclusive, then from Saturday September 16 inclusive to Friday September 22 inclusive.
Should any imbalances become apparent as these balances are drawn up, they will need to be corrected to ensure satisfactory overall results for the period as a whole. For the other services subject to declarative statements, the Council will demand that they send their statements of speaking time at the same rate.