France's Arcom orders CNews to improve opinion diversity, warns of sanctions

The French audiovisual regulator Arcom has criticised the news channel CNews for presenting a dominant single viewpoint on issues such as security, the war in Ukraine, immigration and Islam. After reviewing 168 hours of the channel’s March 2025 programming, Arcom ordered CNews to respect a pluralistic expression of opinion and cautioned that it could face financial sanctions if it does not comply.

The action follows a complaint from Reporters Without Borders and marks the first time the regulator has ruled on pluralism beyond political airtime. Arcom’s president Martin Ajdari said the channel showed "a strong convergence of points of view" on major topics. The regulator also announced plans to monitor the four main news channels (BFMTV, CNews, LCI, franceinfo) ahead of the 2027 presidential election.