zemeunvalsts.lv commentary
Reading the Euronews Green article, one cannot shake the feeling that in some European Union countries something is not right with freedom of speech and/or with the existence of a differing opinion and the opportunity to express it. In other words, if someone dares to publicly question the “correct course” on some issue in a broadcast, an article, an interview or anywhere else, they are punished, or may be punished. In this case – with a fine. It is fortunate that these are not the Middle Ages… It is also worth adding that public organisations have appeared in Western European countries which report what they consider to be an incorrect position on some issue, one that in the view of these organisations’ representatives ought to be presented differently (correctly). Here, the programme makers apparently failed to include “objections” to the particular dissenting opinion. Yet is the massive, hysterical rhetoric of aggressive “climate fanatics”, which is everywhere, to be supported without reservation in any mass medium? Seemingly yes, because it does after all chime with the “accepted policy”. That is how it looks…
A popular French news channel has been fined for broadcasting a sceptical view of climate change “without objection”.
CNews has been criticised before over biased reporting, but this is the first time CNews has been penalised for disinformation on climate matters. CNews, which is controlled by the billionaire business magnate Vincent Bolloré, broadcasts national and international news 24 hours a day and is the second most watched news channel in France after BFMTV. The broadcaster was accused of allowing one of its guests to defend a contentious claim about the origins of climate change without the programme offering any rebuttal of that view.
Since 2017, when the channel relaunched under Groupe Canal+, it has held a conservative editorial line. It is often compared to the right-wing American television channel Fox News. French regulators have warned the channel several times that it “fails to report the news honestly and accurately”. In July of this year, however, the channel found itself in a particularly awkward position, as the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) imposed a fine of 20,000 euros on it for airing a contentious, climate-policy-sceptical opinion without “balanced coverage”.
“This is the first time in France and internationally that Arcom or a regulatory authority has imposed a financial sanction for a breach relating to an environmental topic,” said the association QuotaClimat, which campaigns for better coverage of ecological issues in the media.
Why was CNews penalised for climate scepticism?
QuotaClimat approached Arcom on 8 August 2023 about an on-air segment on CNews called “Punchline Été”, which was devoted to the fact that July 2023 had been the hottest month on record. During the programme, the economist Philippe Herlin (Philippe Herlin) expressed personal scepticism about climate change, and nobody else in the television studio, including the presenters, objected.
“Global warming caused by anthropogenic factors is a lie, a fraud... To be told that it is happening because of humans, no, that is a conspiracy, and why does it matter so much?” said Herlin. “Because it justifies state interference in our lives and relieves the state of the need to cut public spending... It is a form of totalitarianism.”
His remarks apparently drew no reaction either from the other people present on set or from those behind the scenes. Following its investigation, Arcom found that the lack of any response from CNews amounted to a “failure” to meet the obligations of a television channel, which “require honest coverage of contentious issues, in particular by ensuring that a range of opinions is expressed”.
“The speaker was able to put forward a contentious claim that had not been tested against the available scientific data, without any examination of the position he was defending, and no criticism of the subject was voiced after these remarks,” Arcom stressed in its report, confirming the fine of 20,000 euros for CNews.
Is unchecked climate scepticism a growing problem in the French media?
The CNews case came only a few weeks after a warning from Arcom to Sud Radio, a French private radio station founded in 1958. On 29 May 2024, the regulator published a report criticising the station over the Bercoff programme, which was broadcast during COP28 in December 2023.
During the programme, its host, the journalist André Bercoff (André Bercoff), interviewed the physicist François Gervais (François Gervais), who is known for his contentious views and his tendency to mock climate change dangers. In the interview, Gervais spoke of a self-evident “climate fraud”, saying that global warming “is a good thing”.
“At the end of the reign of Louis XIV it was cold, the harvests were poor; cold kills more surely than a little heat,” the physicist went on, describing the melting of the world’s ice as a minor problem: “That is not what will devour us”.
Arcom found that the views expressed “contradicted or played down” the scientific consensus on climate change, “using an approach that lacks rigour and is not balanced by opposing views”. It also criticised the broadcaster for the lack of balance in the information provided and stated that, should disinformation on climate matters continue, Sud Radio would face a formal warning and thereafter a financial penalty as well.
Although QuotaClimat has since 2023 repeatedly compiled reports targeting various media outlets over a lack of responsibility in relation to climate-change-denying opinions, the picture is said not to be as bleak as it appears.
Although much progress still has to be made on environmental issues in the French media and in government, Climat Médias – an organisation that promotes an increase in the number of climate change news items – says that in recent weeks such climate-denying rhetoric on air has overall been at an unprecedentedly low level.