Media Policy As Election Year Wedge Issue

Michael Hedges March 19, 2012 - Follow on Twitter

Time and again media policies become election issues. Whether it’s the status of public broadcasting, subsidies affecting publishers or the role of regulators politicians take positions in line with either ideology or expedience. Other issues, in this era of austerity, may make for better campaign news but politicians increasingly see media policies as ground to stake out.

Campaigning for the French presidency, Socialist Party leader François Hollande has made clear that if elected he would counter the media policies of President Nicolas Sarkozy  with “reform of the audiovisual reform.” After his election in 2007 President Sarkozy unleashed a series of measures changing the organization and role of French public broadcasting and media regulator Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA). Not all of these changes – or the policies behind them – have been universally popular in France.

 “We will not cut heads,” said Socialist Party MP Aurélie Filippetti, quoted by Le Monde (March 17). “The State should organize audiovisual regulation as a whole and legislate based on plurality, diversity and creativity. But politics must learn to stop there and not meddle in programs, editorial policies or even anybody’s questions.”

The CSA is set to name operators of new digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels by the end of March. The Socialist Party and others in opposition would like those decisions postponed until after the May 5th elections. “The timing is bad,” said Mme Filippetti. “It lends itself to all sorts of speculation, wrongly or rightly, because of the desire to appeal to a particular operator or a particular group. The CSA would demonstrate its independence by suspending that procedure.”

Disagreeing, naturally, was UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire) party spokesperson Franck Riester. “There were many things to do in the last five years.  The end of advertising in the evening on public service channels has released audience pressure and allowed more creativity and daring. We must stop the suspicion. The independence of the president of France Télévisions and its editors has never been greater. The key is to ensure sustainable funding for public service (broadcasting) and accompany the transition to a single enterprise.” The UMP is the party of President Sarkozy.

“I do not understand why we should wait until after the presidential election is to assign frequencies to digital terrestrial television,” said M Riester enlightening the same subject with Les Echos (March 15). “The CSA must be independent and, therefore, not connect its decision to award the channels with the presidency. For my part, I trust the CSA. I believe it is independent. Why wait another six months?”

Critics, with some justification, have followed President Sarkozy’s media policies with great suspicion. Curtailing ads of public TV may have been designed to aid big private sector media houses. Chasing internet downloaders with the draconian Hadopi Law had wide support of the entertainment industries. Direct presidential selection of executives of public broadcasting and the media regulator raises significant questions about government control.

“France Télévisions is property of the State and the State appoints the director,” said President Sarkozy famously. Still, media policies in France under M Sarkozy are tame compared with those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has brought all media under tighter political control. Recent right to left shift in Denmark’s ruling coalition after the September 2011 elections has yet to take a strong position on media policy.  Each year brings new elections somewhere and always an opportunity.

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