TNT Commission of Inquiry: Significant tension around almost half of the report’s proposals

For almost six months the work came to a standstill. Following the work of the commission to investigate television frequencies, deputies of the presidential majority demanded that the proposals of elected LFI official Aurélien Saintul be withdrawn, which, according to him, is an “attempt at censorship.”

Members of the commission of inquiry are due to decide at the end of the day on Tuesday whether or not to publish Aurélien Saintoul’s report. On the menu: the question of control over channels, tougher sanctions in case of failure to fulfill their obligations, and again about pluralism.

19 proposals on ballots

The LFI-initiated commission has heard from audiovisual regulator Arcom, the heads of numerous public and private channels, as well as C8 and CNews star presenters such as Cyril Hanouna and Pascal Proud over the past six months.

Of the 47 proposals contained in the report, deputies of the presidential majority allied with the Republic of Latvia, according to Aurélien Sentul, demanded the withdrawal of 19 on Monday evening.

According to corroborating sources confirming the information from franceinfo, this includes the removal of pay-per-view DTT channels, the establishment of fees paid by channels in exchange for frequency, and the re-banning of columnists on news channels, as well as pre-school youth programs.

Two applications to court

According to the elected LFI, “the Macronists are looking for an excuse to bury a report containing incriminating elements against the Canal+ group” and its CNews and C8 channels in the bosom of billionaire Vincent Bolloré. “This is clearly a coup attempt, an attempt at censorship in the service of their friend Bolloré,” he told AFP.

Aurélien Saintul also plans two reports to the courts after studying documents and hearings with channel managers, he said without further details. The chairman of the commission of inquiry, Quentin Bataillon (Renaissance), who could not be reached on Tuesday morning, had initially planned to append his own proposals as an appendix to the report, due to be published on May 14.

If the report is not accepted on Tuesday evening, it will be archived without being made public – an exceptional case, the last such fate befell the commission of inquiry into the financing of trade union organizations in 2011.