France

[FR] The CSA Proposes a Revision of the Rules Applied during Presidential Elections.

IRIS 1995-10:1/30

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

The organisation of the election of the President of the Republic and the campaign itself (the first round took place on 23 April of this year, the second round on 7 May) were taken up in a report by the CSA (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel - Audiovisual Supervisory Board). In the report, the CSA indicated to the public authorities that certain provisions in the legal framework of the elections were ripe for change. The CSA sets the rules concerning the production, programming and broadcasting of programmes on the electoral campaigns that the national broadcasting companies are obliged to produce, programme and broadcast. Throughout the duration of the electoral campaigns, the CSA sends its recommendations to the operators of those audiovisual communications services authorised by the law (see IRIS 1995-5:8 and IRIS 1995-6:7).

The CSA put forward a number of proposals aimed at updating the legal framework governing the presidential election campaign. The CSA considered it necessary to take a fresh look at the ways in which the regulations were applied during presidential campaigns, although it did not wish to change the principles or the spirit of those regulations. The proposals mainly concerned the decree of March 1964, which laid down the conditions of equal air time for candidates in the news programmes of the authorised audiovisual communication service and national broadcasting companies with regard to the reproduction of or commentary on what the candidates said or wrote, as well as in the actual presentation of the candidates themselves. The proposals involve notably :

- the organisation of the official campaign, broadcast on radio and television. This could be left up to the regulatory authority (instance de régulation) to lay down the amount of air time allowed, following consultations with the candidates and under the supervision of the Commission nationale de contrôle (National Supervisory Commission) and of the Constitutional Council. The provisions that set out the conditions under which persons other than the candidates themselves may take part should also be done away with.

- the principle of equality of treatment for each candidate should apply as soon as the official list of candidates is published.

- a relaxation of the principle of equality during the official electoral campaign, with regard to news programmes.

- the inclusion of the second-round debate in official campaign programmes

- the authorisation for any audiovisual communication service to broadcast all or part of the official campaign programmes, under the supervision of the CSA.