The independence of public broadcasting is guaranteed by the Constitutional Council and stems from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789. While the abolition of the contribution to public broadcasting (CAP) will be studied from from Thursday July 21 to the National Assembly, within the framework of the amending finance bill, such is the common thread of the report of the general inspection of finances and the general inspection of cultural affairs made public on July 13. The two administrations had been commissioned by Jean Castex in October 2021.
The former Prime Minister had asked them to study, within the framework of the end of the housing tax to which it is leaned, a reform of this tax, which brings in 3.1 billion euros per year and which finances France Télévisions, Radio France, Arte, France Médias Monde and the National Audiovisual Institute. The announcement by Emmanuel Macron, in March, of the abolition of this levy of 138 euros per year and per household forced them to reorient their work in order to assess the risks of this reform of the financing of public television and radio. .
“Funding Volatility”
According to the administration, the Constitutional Council could quite simply “censor” a measure that amounts to replacing “a resource dedicated to financing by the State budget”. Because, the civil servants recall, “the principle of independence of public broadcasting is protected, including in its financial dimension”, both in France and in Europe, where the texts give the public media “vital importance for democracy”.
However, the pure and simple abolition of this earmarked tax could lead to “volatility of funding, where the CAP was a stable base”. With the key, the “risk of attrition” budgets, as certain examples abroad demonstrate. Spain and the Netherlands, which made this choice a long time ago, “are characterized by weaker public broadcasting”. On Wednesday July 13, the president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte, questioned by the deputies alongside the other bosses of the public audiovisual sector, specified that in Spain, the budget for the public media had “down 20%”.
Another risk, budgeting could also push them to resort to more advertising. Their image could also suffer abroad, where they could “to be seen as [des] state media ». Finally, their editorial independence would also be threatened, as any critical program could potentially be penalized by a budget cut. The risk of displeasing would then result in “self-censorship”.
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