‘Trustworthy’ media label idea from Macron causes political storm in France

A plan announced by French President Emmanuel Macron for a ‘label’ to be given to ‘trustworthy media’ has prompted political controversy, with opponents accusing him of wanting to impose government control.

The president said he wanted “to do all he could to put in place a label” for the media as he gave a speech at an event in Arras (Pas-de-Calais) in November 2025 before an audience selected by local newspaper La Voix du Nord.

He said it was necessary to distinguish between a “professional” media for online and other media and those “who make money through personalised advertisements.”

The idea of creating a label for “trustworthy” media has surfaced at various points in President Macron’s speeches since his election in 2017, and has regularly prompted criticism.

This time, criticism was led by far-right and right-wing politicians, with opponents noting that the proposal emerged amid tensions between the government and the Bolloré family, which controls several media outlets, including CNews, often described as seeking to become the “Fox News of France”.

Shortly before referring to the idea of a media “label”, the president’s official account on the X social media platform published a video showing extracts from programmes by CNews presenter Pascal Praud and far-right politician Philippe de Villiers, a former presidential candidate, with the caption “Attention, fausses informations”.

Bruno Retailleau, leader of the right-wing Les Républicans, criticised the proposal as a threat to press freedom and warned against the state deciding which media outlets could be deemed trustworthy.

Mr Retailleau and Eric Ciotti, the former leader of Les Républicains who is now aligned with the far-right Rassemblement National, launched online petitions opposing the proposal and warning that it threatened media freedom. 

The petitions claimed to have received around 40,000 signatures a few hours after being put online.

Comments ‘taken out of context’ say presidential camp

In response to the backlash, the government said the president’s comments had been deliberately misunderstood and insisted that he had always argued for the media industry to establish its own system of self-regulation without state involvement.

Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said President Macron had addressed the issue at a cabinet meeting, stressing that: “The government will not create any label for the press. It is not, and never will be, its role to do so.”