Censorship in France

Censorship In France

See also Freedom of speech by country
Internet censorship by country

France has a long history of governmental censorship, particularly in the 16th to 18th centuries, but today freedom of press is guaranteed by the French Constitution and instances of governmental censorship are relatively limited and isolated.

There was a strong governmental control over radio and television in the 1950-70s. Today, the CSA is only charged of surveillance of the respect of French law in the media, in particular concerning the 1990 Gayssot Act which prohibits racist or/and religious hate speech (under which negationism, in particular but not only Holocaust denial falls under), and time period allocated to each political party during pre-electoral periods. Furthermore, other laws prohibit homophobic hate speech, and a 1970 law prohibits the advocacy of illegal drugs.

Each of these laws have been criticized by some groups, either from the left (especially concerning the 1970 law on drugs) or from the far right (in particular concerning the 1990 Gayssot Act or the laws prohibiting homophobic attacks). Others express the need for minorities to be protected from hate speech which may lead, according to them, to heinous acts and hate crimes, while still others claim that one can not tolerate free speech concerning drugs as it is a matter of public health and moral order. However, the 2005 vote of the law on colonialism voted by the UMP conservative parliamentary majority has lifted a debate, especially among historians, concerning the legitimacy and relevancy of such "memory laws." Although a fair amount of historians is opposed to such laws, few advocate their repeal insofar as they estimate that once they have been voted, repealing them would be a greater evil.

Finally, critics, in particular, but not only, from the left-wing, have criticized economic censorship, in particular through concentration of media ownership (Bouygues' influence, for instance, on TF1), or the fact that Dassault or Lagardère, both military firms, control several newspapers in France, such as Le Figaro (owned by Dassault).

Over all, freedom of press is guaranteed by the French Constitution, several effective cases of censorship, against newspapers (Le Canard enchaîné, Charlie Hebdo and Hara-Kiri newspapers, etc.), films, or radio-shows, have been registered in the history of the Fifth Republic, founded in 1958. Most recently, several events ordered by Nicolas Sarkozy, then-Interior Minister and former President of the Republic (until 2012), have been criticized as forms of censorship (i.e. the firing of the director of Paris Match — controlled by Hachette Filipacchi Médias, the world's largest magazine publisher, itself owned by Lagardère — because he had published photos of Cécilia Sarkozy with another man in New York).