Dealing with the Middle East conflict: Arcom brings audiovisual media together
The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication today brought together representatives of the audiovisual media to discuss news coverage of the Middle East conflict and its repercussions in France.
All participants took the opportunity to underline the unprecedented difficulties faced by newsrooms in ensuring that the public is properly informed, and in shedding light on the realities of a particularly sensitive conflict.
Aware of these difficulties, Arcom saluted the essential role played by journalists in covering events, putting them into perspective and analyzing them, and thus contributing to public debate. It underlined the particular responsibility of the audiovisual media in this respect.
In addition, Arcom recalled the principles and rules laid down by the 1986 law and its deliberations of 2013 and 2018, insisting on the need to ensure the rigor and honesty of information and to demonstrate the utmost vigilance in abiding by the imperatives of plurality and balance of viewpoints. This means, in particular, putting events into context and avoiding hasty generalizations, stereotypes and sensationalism, all of which are likely to fuel tension and antagonism. The regulator has also indicated that it has received several sequences in recent weeks, which are currently being examined by its departments. We will shortly be announcing the outcome of these cases.
Lastly, the Authority has indicated that, as part of the implementation of the new European regulation on digital services(Digital Services Act), it is working closely with the European Commission, the relevant national administrations and civil society to help fight agains the abuses observed on certain online platforms in relation to the situation in the Middle East, in terms of manipulation of information as well as incitement to hatred and violence.