Yesterday, at first reading, the National Assembly adopted the bill on the independence and pluralism of the media, carried out by Patrick Bloche and the members of the Committee on Cultural Affairs.
The text extends to the 36,000 journalists the rights enjoyed until then only by journalists in the public broadcasting sector. They will now be able to assert their intimate professional conviction by supporting it with a code of ethics that publishers and editors are invited to develop together. The text also provides, for the audiovisual media, the mandatory creation of independence committees that will be able to alert all actors, including the CSA, on possible interference of economic actors on the editorial line.
The Minister of Culture and Communication welcomes the adoption of these “major advances in media independence”.
The Ministry also proposed that parliamentarians adopt a government amendment to better guarantee the confidentiality of journalists' sources.
In a work of co-construction with the Committee on Cultural Affairs and the Committee on Laws, the text, adopted at first reading, brings four major developments to the inadequacies of the law of 4 July 2010 in terms of protection of the confidentiality of sources.
- Extending the protection of source confidentiality to all editorial staff and the Director of Publication, where the 2010 law only protected journalists.
- Clarification of the notion of “overriding public interest imperative” on whose behalf it may be justified to breach source confidentiality by defining a list of limiting cases.
- The prohibition on convicting a journalist of the crime of concealment of a breach of the secrecy of the investigation or investigation, of a breach of professional secrecy or of an invasion of privacy.
- Finally, the obligation to be able to breach the confidentiality of sources, when the law allows it, only under the authority of a judge.
' This is a major democratic issue» recalled Audrey Azoulay in her speech to parliamentarians. “ You know my determination to see this reform demanded by the profession adopted, as the President promised A promise kept with the passage of this text.