2023-10-03 19:16:10
Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise dated March 17, 2022 has finally come to fruition. This Tuesday, October 3, the vast construction site officially opened general information statementsintended for “guarantee our right to information in the digital age”.
On the occasion of its launch, the five members of the independent committee mandated by the government to pilot it (Bruno Lasserre, former vice-president of the Council of State and president of the committee; Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders and general delegate of the committee; Nathalie Collin, deputy general director of the La Poste group; Camille François, researcher at Columbia University and Anne Perrot, general inspector of finances) held a press conference. Themes, calendar, presentation of proposals… The cross takes stock of the announcements.
► Five major themes identified
In a desire to cover all of the numerous issues and “urgent questions”, specified Bruno Lasserre, which affect the right to information, the steering committee has identified five areas of reflection. So many working groups made up of between five and ten people who will work on these major themes for several months.
The first, “information space and technological innovation”, will be chaired by Sébastien Soriano, president of the National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information, and will address questions related to the distribution of information online, the economic model of media on the Internet or even the questions surrounding generative artificial intelligence in the field of information. Pascal Ruffenach, chairman of the board of directors of the Bayard group (to which The cross), was appointed chairman of the second working group, “citizenship, information and democracy in the digital age”which will look at the notion of peaceful debate and will endeavor to develop a “ethics of discussionwhich avoids polarization and promotes the search for solutions”specified Bruno Lasserre.
The third group, chaired by the president of Public Senate, Christopher Baldelli, will have the task of reflecting on “the future of information producers”. The folder “State and regulation”, who will have to question the necessity of “review the legislative regulatory tool” to better take into account recent technological upheavals, was devolved to the president of the National Gaming Authority, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin. Finally, the Spanish jurist and dean of international affairs at Sciences Po Paris, Arancha Gonzalez, will chair the fifth working group, focused on “French sovereignty and foreign interference in matters of information”.
► A three-step calendar
From this Tuesday, October 3 and until the end of December, a first diagnostic phase is taking place which must “leaning on citizens”. Already, a survey commissioned by the Ministry of Culture from the Toluna-Harris Interactive institute and published today lays the first stone of this important project, by questioning a panel of 2,000 people on their relationship to information. This October 3 also sees the launch of the siteparolesinfo.cese.fr, via which everyone is invited to participate in thematic debates to share their “concerns and solutions to guarantee access to information and its transparency” until November 12. Public consultations throughout France, hearings of parliamentarians and other contributions from researchers will be added to the system.
At the end of this first phase of consultation, the working groups will be required, between January and March 2024, to formulate proposals. These will then be studied by the steering committee, which will have to draw a summary in order to develop a concrete action plan to present to the government next June.
► Four major events
To guarantee monitoring of the progress of the work of the general information statements, the steering committee announced the holding of four main events. The first will take place on November 10, on the occasion of the third summit for information and democracy, organized as part of the Estates General during the Paris Peace Forum. Three agoras will then mark out the site: the first, in November, dedicated to diagnosis and proposals, in a “regional metropolis” not yet determined; a second in February dedicated to deliberation on the said proposals and a last one at the Sorbonne, at the end of the process, restitution.
The Estates General will also participate in various events throughout the next nine months, including Médias en scène, the Press Tribunes in Bordeaux and the Journalism Conference in Tours.
► Arrive at “convincing” proposals
In a country that Bruno Lasserre describes as “very legicentric”the president of the steering committee recalls the desire of the States General to arrive at solutions “legislative, but not only”. “There will be proposals in this direction, in particular to modify the 1986 law on freedom of the press, he reassures, but we also intend to think more broadly about a new public doctrine which helps to guarantee the right to information. »
The general delegate of the States General, Christophe Deloire, also clarified that the government had not required a minimum or maximum number of proposals. Proposals which will remain in the order of “suggestion and not decision”underlined Bruno Lasserre, believing that this is “the quid pro quo for the independence of the committee”. “All our strength will lie in the quality of the proposals formulated, which will be supported, evaluated and weighed; and in our ability to convince of the need to implement them”did he declare.
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