What’s happened?
President Macron has sought for some time to ‘sound the alarm’ about the threats to democracy from disinformation on social media.
He also called for “professional certification” of media outlets to distinguish sites and networks that provide reliable information.
Is that a problem?
Initially, no. But in early December, suddenly, yes. On Sunday, the Journal du Dimanche — which took a huge step to the right when Geoffroy Lejeune became editor in 2023 — accused Macron of ‘totalitarian drift’, and thundered a warning against ‘the temptation of a Ministry of Truth’.
The increasingly reactionary Les Républicains launched a petition, as did the party of their former hardline leader Eric Ciotti, Union des Droites pour la République. At the time of writing, the former had just over 39,000 signatures, and the latter just over 38,500.
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That’s about the population of La Rochelle in total. There are 68.6 million people in France.
Some of these people have loud voices. On Monday Pascal Praud, the headline-grabbing chief anchor of the very right-wing CNews, said: “Between the Ministry of Truth and Brezhnev-style Pravda, Emmanuel Macron is looking for a middle ground.”
A day earlier, also on CNews, Rassemblement National’s Jordan Bardella said: “Tampering with freedom of expression is an authoritarian temptation, reflecting the isolation of a man ... who has lost power and seeks to maintain it by controlling information.”
His boss Marine Le Pen said in an interview on BFM TV: “This idea is obviously extremely dangerous. And Emmanuel Macron’s objective is to control information.”
And, on social media site X, Les Républicains’ leader and former interior minister Bruno Retailleau, with no apparent irony, posted that “no government has the right to filter the media or dictate the truth”.
And Les Républicains’ petition kicks off with the following: “The President of the Republic recently declared his intention to ‘certify’ news websites. Once again, and under the guise of fighting fake news, it is freedom of information and expression that is under attack: after the unsuccessful attempt to establish digital censorship with the loi Avia, a new offensive has been launched against media outlets that displease the progressive establishment.”
Those are all right-wing and far-right names…
You noticed. Far be it from them to speak up against freedom of misinformation.
So, what’s the actual story then?
It turns out that all that ‘media label’ talk was fake news, after all. Who knew, right?
Well, as it turns out, anyone who was paying attention.
In November, during a discussion with readers of daily newspaper La Voix du Nord, Macron said in response to a question about disinformation he believed it was important to be able to to “distinguish between networks and sites that make money from personalised advertising, and networks and news sites”.
He also said that journalists bound by professional standards and ethics should be easy to recognise by means of some kind of ‘label’. But, crucially, not one given by the State.
Here’s a transcript of the exchange on the Elysée website.
“Information is a dangerous subject ... And, therefore, there are ethical rules,” he said.
“The role of the State is to provide a sincere and impartial framework. But it should never be to say: ‘this is true or false’. Because there, the great risk is to become an authoritarian regime,” Macron said, when pressed on the matter by another reader.
At another reader Q&A, in Vosges, on Saturday, November 30th, he developed the idea, saying: “Journalists must guarantee to their readers that they have verified [their information] with a code of ethics (...) that is built between them and guaranteed by third parties, by peers.”
Does this mythical ‘ethical code’ exist?
Yes. Journalists abide by professional ethical standards. France’s Conseil de déontologie journalistique et de médiation has existed since 2019. It’s one of 20 independent national Press Councils in the EU alone.
Its authority is limited, but while its opinions are advisory, merely publishing them can inform the public that a media outlet is not respecting standard rules.
Elsewhere, press councils have more bite. Belgium’s Conseil des journalistes can compel a media outlet to publish a correction or a right of reply. Sweden’s version can impose fines.
No international standards, then?
Enter the Journalism Trust Initiative. Macron has mentioned it more than once. It’s a certification initiative launched by Reporters sans frontières that aims — according to the website — to be a “Transparent, neutral and global ISO-type certification for the news industry”.
It, was developed by “130 media organisations, journalists’ associations, editors associations, regulatory and self-regulatory bodies and other stakeholders of the news industry to promote independent, pluralistic and reliable information”, the website states, and is “an international standard that helps news outlets benchmark their transparency and their commitment to ethical journalistic practice. It provides a systematic approach to combat disinformation, and to foster a culture of transparency and responsibility in news publishing.”
Those organisations include Agence France Presse, the Associated Press, BBC World News, and the European Broadcasting Union.
To date, the JTI standard has so far been awarded to 2,130 media outlets across 122 countries.
In 2024, the Etats généraux de l'information recommended that ‘information professionals’ should engage in a voluntary certification process to ‘strengthen public trust’.
Its report suggested a voluntary ‘national certification scheme’ with JTI-inspired standards. Although the standards would be ‘defined by the State in association with professionals in the sector’, they would be policed and enforced by media organisations themselves.
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