Eurosport 2 and Franceinfo reported by Arcom – Libération

2024-10-03 13:48:19

The two channels are cited for not fulfilling their broadcast obligations on doping for the year 2022, in a report published this Thursday 3 October, which calls on other channels to vary their formats.

Eurosport 2 and Franceinfo bad results in the fight against doping? This is essentially what a report released this Thursday On 3 October from Arcom, the audiovisual regulatory authority. The document highlights that these two channels did not comply with their participation obligations on this issue in 2022 and 2023. According to a 2017 law, the channels must contribute “the fight against doping and the protection of people who practice physical and sporting activity” broadcasting programs of more than two minutes on these topics at least once a year.

Eurosport’s package of pay channels confirms that it has broadcast only the requested programs on the Eurosport 1 channel, leaving aside Eurosport 2. As for the public information channel Franceinfo, it is among the culprits because it did not provide Arcom with its contribution to 2022 and 2023, unlike the France Télévisions channels which have fulfilled their obligations. In detail, the pay channel RMC Sport 1 is also cited for its shortcomings in 2022, where it broadcast only one program “outside the prescribed time slot”.

In total in 2022, of the 33 national channels affected, 21 applied the rules in full and 9 partially. Last year there were more: out of 36 channels, 28 fully complied with their obligations and 6 partially, including CNews and France 24. “The vast majority of publishers subject to the system complied with it in 2022 and 2023, which constitutes notable progress compared to previous years”greets Arcom.

Courts formed

As regards the contents, l «corners» proposed by the publishers were “varied, both in the context of amateur and professional sport, and sometimes specifically aimed at young audiences”congratulates Arcom. The organization favors, for example, the two channels of the M6 ​​group that broadcast the same titled program How does the fight against doping work? in the youth magazine Kid & Toi. At the same time inviting channels to diversify their content aimed at young audiences.

As the Paris Olympic Games approach, “the deadline, important for French anti-doping, was regularly mentioned in the declared programmes”takes over the independent authority. Yet she watches him “short formats, or sequences lasting less than two minutes, still represent too large a share of broadcasts declared by publishers”. And that the channels suitable for the exercise are substantially the same since the entry into force of the declaration. Namely France 2 via the show One day, a question (which had a version for young audiences, with educational clips such as “Since when does doping exist?”), but also France 3, France 4, France 5, M6 and W9.

The Audiovisual Media Regulatory Authority also notes that most channels address these topics “in general, without aiming at a particular discipline”, emphasizes the institution “a strong progression of programs focused on a particular sport”, in particular football and cycling, two of the disciplines most monitored by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) according to its 2023 activity report, in which Arcom analyzes in particular what can explain the preponderance of cycling “the history of this discipline and the media coverage in the past of emblematic cases of doping”. The Festina or Lance Armstrong cases were thus described in the documentary Tour de France, a French passion, broadcast in 2023 on the France 3 channel.