Presidential speaking time: Emmanuel Macron, a talkative president?

Chatty president or master of the airwaves? Since his accession to the Élysée Palace in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has seemed omnipresent in the French audiovisual landscape. While some call him a “chatty president,” or “the most talkative of the Fifth Republic,” as L' Express headlined last year, the reality is more nuanced.

According to the archives of the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) examined by Marianne at the end of 2021, Emmanuel Macron had accumulated around 173 hours of television appearances during his last year in office , compared to 170 hours of appearances on continuous and general news channels for Nicolas Sarkozy and 165 hours for François Hollande (the figures concerning him extend up to January 31, 2017).

Slightly more airtime… but an expanded media landscape

A difference that, at first glance, seems marginal. However, it takes on another dimension in the era of the proliferation of continuous news channels. The creation of France Info in 2016, the free nature of LCI the same year, and the omnipresence of rebroadcasting platforms are all springboards favoring the expression of the presidential message.

Thus, President Macron benefits from a visibility multiplied by that of his predecessors , even if the actual duration of his interventions remains comparable. This phenomenon is reinforced by periods of crisis , such as that of Covid-19, where his televised addresses have reached record audiences. On March 12, 2020, for example, his first formal intervention on the pandemic brought together nearly 25 million viewers, all channels combined.

The following Monday, April 13, at 8:02 p.m. and for 25 minutes, 36.7 million viewers followed the president's announcement of the extension of the lockdown. This was his fourth formal address since the start of the health crisis, and it broke a new audience record. As for his last televised address, devoted to the war in Ukraine and the international situation on Wednesday, March 5, it attracted more than 15 million French people, according to Telerama .

Contested interventions during election periods

This increased presence in the media has not failed to provoke a reaction from the opposition, particularly during the 2024 European elections. Several political leaders have accused the head of state of using the media for electoral purposes, speaking at strategic moments to influence public opinion. This controversy was relayed in particular by Le Monde , which points out that the rules on speaking time impose a certain fairness between political actors, especially during campaign periods.

These criticisms raise a question: how far can a sitting president go in using public speech without encroaching on the democratic balance? While the institutions have not identified any formal failings, the debate remains open regarding the boundary between institutional communication and political strategy.