A video on trisomy 21 was withdrawn from the air in 2014. The CSA denounced an ambiguous message. The Council of State confirmed this decision.
The buzz dates back to 2014 but its repercussions are still alive. The Council of State ruled on November 10: a clip depicting young people with Down’s syndrome did not no place on the air in the middle of the advertising inserts. It therefore supports the opinion of the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA). The highest court in France was seized by seven people with Down’s syndrome and two associations pro life – the Collective of friends of Éléonore and the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation.
Inappropriate projection
The clip in question, “Dear future mom”, was a lightning success on the Internet. Broadcast on the YouTube video platform, it quickly reached 2 million views in March 2014. It must be said that the production plays on a sensitive chord. It features several young people suffering from trisomy 21. They respond to a future mother who wonders about the future of her fetus, also malformed. All the speakers explain to him why they are happy to be alive.
The success is such that the video ends up on several television antennas. Which is not to the taste of the CSA. The audiovisual “gendarme” calls to order the three channels which broadcast it in the middle of advertisements. Such a message should not be projected in such a framework, he believes. Decision not shared by the applicants. They denounce unjustified censorship. The case therefore ends on the offices of the Council of State.
Europe seized of the case
The court agrees with the CSA: this little film is likely to disturb women pregnant with a fetus with Down’s syndrome. The broadcast is “inappropriate” in the context in which it was offered. The audiovisual gendarme did not commit an error of law. The “finality may seem ambiguous”, concedes the Council of State.
But the institution also gives a point to associations: the positive presentation of the life of young people with Down’s syndrome fulfills a “general interest objective”. In fact, discrimination is still law in this area.
The concession is not sufficient for the applicants. The Jérôme Lejeune Foundation has already announced its intention to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). “Hide from me this child with Down’s syndrome who seems happy”, squeaks the association. She denounces, in a press release, a “singular conception of human life” and “eugenics”. The rhetoric is well conducted but remains classic. The arguments presented are presented in each controversy.
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