French News Channel CNews Fined €200,000 Over Controversial Migrant Comments

Eric Zemmour’s remarks on migrant minors cost CNews dearly. On Thursday, March 18, the CSA condemned the news channel of the Canal+ group to a fine of 200,000 euros for "incitement to hatred" and "to violence". This financial penalty is a first against a news channel, the council specified to AFP, stating that "as the law has not been respected, this sanction is automatic".

"They have nothing to do here, they are thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists, that’s all they are, we have to send them back and they shouldn’t even come," the columnist had declared on September 29, during a debate on the program "Face à l’info" dedicated to the issue of unaccompanied minors after the attack outside the former premises of "Charlie Hebdo". "Even though these remarks were made in the context of a debate that was legitimate in itself [...], they were likely to incite hatred towards unaccompanied foreign minors, and conveyed many particularly defamatory stereotypes about them, likely to encourage discriminatory behavior," justifies the CSA in a press release.

The Council blames CNews for not having ensured control of the airtime. "[...] All the more so since the program was broadcast on a delayed basis and without modification, as the Canal+ group’s ethics committee pointed out in its opinion rendered on October 22, 2020," it states. CNews had already been formally noticed for similar facts at the end of 2019. At the time, the CSA had issued a warning to the channel after Eric Zemmour’s remarks on Islam and the colonization of Algeria.

The Canal+ Group issued a statement deploring "the decision of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel". According to it, it "contravenes the principle of freedom of expression". It "intends to implement the possible remedies as soon as possible".