LThe media war is now entering legal territory. Escalation between public broadcasting and media controlled by the Bolloré family – CNews, Europe 1 and J.D.D – promised to stay until the presidential election in 2027. This week, France Télévisions and Radio France partnered with CNews, Europe 1 and J.D.D before the Paris commercial court, as disclosed by Le Figaro.
The two community groups are demanding 1 million euros and 500,000 euros respectively as compensation for “defamation”. In subpoenas each nearly 80 pages long to France Télévisions and some sixty pages to Radio France, the two public companies denounced “companies that orchestrate economic and institutional destabilization.” They pointed to “systematic and repeated derogatory statements” aimed at “undermining the trust” of the public and “damaging their reputation”. Culture Minister Rachida Dati expressed her frustration, assessing that “the trust should have been informed” about this legal action.
France Télévisions Argument
“This is a civil dispute and not a criminal one, we are not involved in defamation. This concerns a company and not an individual,” explained a source close to the community group. Insult is an abusive act that is punishable by criminal law based on article 1240 of the Civil Code, which states that “every act of a person which causes harm to another person, requires the person whose fault it was to be corrected” and more specifically, in the field of unfair competition. According to case law, in particular the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal of 30 May 2018, “insults consist of discrediting an identified person, product or service in public and are distinguished from acceptable criticism insofar as the criticism originates from an economic actor seeking to benefit from a competitive advantage by discrediting its competitors or that party’s products”.
France Télévisions intends to demonstrate this slander through the idea of real disproportion in the treatment of the media. “The time devoted to broadcasting CNews and Europe 1 and the number of pages J.D.D on the Legrand-Cohen affair and the Court of Auditors report on France Télévisions 40 to 50 times higher than on other private media such as TF1 or M6. In our opinion, there is a strategy, a political will to push us forward,” said a person close to the group. This is not about opposing the editorial line of CNews and Europe 1, or freedom of expression, but about asserting one’s rights.
France Télévisions will have to prove before the Paris Court of Economic Activity – the new name of the commercial court – that its channels are competitors of CNews in the relevant television market, according to the definition chosen by the Competition Authority, in particular during the examination of the aborted TF1-M6 merger. Then there is the maneuver of the private company Canal+ group which aims to undermine its public competitors in order to gain market share. Of course, its advertising resources represent only about 15% of its annual budget (around 450 million euros of which 2.6 billion is financed by public money). However, the group led by Delphine Ernotte believes in the actions of CNews, Europe 1 and media J.D.D can cause problems for advertisers. CNews condemned the “backlash”.
Damage to the audience is also a big problem. “If France Télévisions has fewer viewers, then they will lose state support,” fears one person close to the community group. “For us, this is not an aggressive procedure. We have a commercial dispute and we are asking for monetary compensation. Never before has there been such a relentless attitude from media groups towards public services,” he assured.
As for the media, where the Bolloré family is the majority shareholder – CNews is owned by the Canal+ group, 31% owned by the Bolloré group and Europe 1 and J.D.D to the Louis Hachette Group, which is 31% owned by the Bolloré group – we immediately reject these allegations. “France Télévisions is trying to take countermeasures. In the Legrand-Cohen affair, these are CNews, Europe 1 and J.D.D which creates pluralism. We were the only ones talking about it for the first few hours. “For several days, there was silence on nine radio stations and seven public service television channels,” said an executive from one of the media outlets under attack. “They said we talked about it too much?” They want to calculate the topic now? Delphine Ernotte might want CNews and Europe 1 to send their program schedules first? » he continued with irony.
The Legrand-Cohen affair was at the heart of the dispute
The media pillar accused of defending the treatment of the Legrand-Cohen affair by CNews, Europe 1 and J.D.D. “There are two prominent public service editorials caught in a jam with top Socialist Party officials who are crucial in the process of simulating the presidential campaign and municipal elections. »
Regarding the critical response to the Court of Auditors report at France Télévisions, he assured: «Even if we were wrong in saying thirty drivers, not thirty cars with two drivers, it doesn’t matter, we can make our mea culpa. What matters is not the form but the substance. » And to expand the criticism of the idea of a “left-wing interlocutor” in public broadcasting: “We have a journalist, Léa Salamé, a colleague of a political leader. Can we imagine Jordan Bardella’s colleagues hosting 20 Hours of France 2? No, that’s impossible. »
Trench warfare
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Kangaroo today
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In the event Time for pro 2 on Tuesday 18 November, Pascal Praud promised a counterattack. “If they attack, we will attack. And, here, I tell you, we will have fun with the slander,” he said, explaining that the criticism formulated against the public service is often a “response” to their accusations. He particularly targeted a recent post by columnist Bertrand Chameroy mocking CNews on France Inter, which he described as “disgusting”. On September 18, Delphine Ernotte also described CNews as a “right-wing channel” in an interview with World. A statement that only strengthens the opinion of those who, among politicians, commentators and citizens, consider the public giant to be a “den of the left” and turn public broadcasting into an electoral issue for the next presidential election.
The appointment was made on January 29 at the Paris commercial court. This first procedural hearing will mark the start of a legal battle that could last several months… until 2027.
