{"id":531065,"date":"2026-03-05T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=531065"},"modified":"2026-03-05T08:01:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T07:01:58","slug":"rts-observatoire-le-peuple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/company\/media\/rts-observatoire-le-peuple\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u00abLe Peuple\u00bb designed an RTS Observatory\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Agora, the French-language Le Peuple<\/em> has launched an unprecedented observatory of RTS news production, based on a public and reproducible methodology. Journalist Rapha\u00ebl Pomey describes the genesis, results and democratic issues involved.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u00abWhy aren't the newspapers talking about Agora? What you've done is crazy.\u00bb We heard this remark a lot in the days following the launch of the Observatoire de la Radio T\u00e9l\u00e9vision Suisse (RTS), conceived by the medium Le Peuple<\/em>. It expressed both surprise and incomprehension: how could a project of this scale, unprecedented in French-speaking Switzerland, elicit so little reaction from the media? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agora is based on a simple idea: systematic, reproducible observation of public service news production. Designed on an entirely voluntary basis, the tool automatically analyzes, day after day, the main news programs of the radio channel La Premi\u00e8re<\/em>. This is neither a pamphlet nor a statement of intent, but an analytical tool. The latter, moreover, has its origins in our internal debate as to the line to take regarding the future of the licence fee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read also | Pascal Crittin: \u00abWe don't steer the debate\u00bb<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The platform's methodology is public (read the commentary at the end of the article)<\/em>. The technical framework, the evaluation criteria, the precise instructions given to the artificial intelligence (AI): everything is accessible, documented and verifiable. Anyone can consult the system, discuss its limitations \u2013 or reproduce it. So why such a discreet welcome? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be dishonest to deny that Le Peuple<\/em> claims a conservative orientation. In a media landscape where neutrality is often mistaken for ideological interdependence, this label is sometimes enough to discredit any initiative. But the question deserves more than reflexes: it calls for an examination of the facts. Over a full year, Agora analyzed 1,588 programs and almost 15,000 segments. The scope selected deliberately excludes overtly militant or editorialized programs \u2013 such as \u00abGender question\u00bb<\/a> \u2013 in order to measure not the margins, but the core of information production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agora's key findings<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The results, presented in the 2025 report available on agora.lepeuple.ch, reveal several major findings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, the good news: raw news \u2013 newspapers, newsflashes, factual treatments \u2013 remains solid overall. Professional standards are largely respected, and ideological bias is much less marked than in interpretative formats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The entire production analyzed by Agora reveals a slight left-wing progressive slant. Photo: Le Peuple<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Point two is more disturbing: some theme programs have a clearly identifiable structural ideological orientation, stable over time. These are not occasional slips, but coherent editorial lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirdly, the entire production analyzed reveals a slight left-wing progressive slant. Nothing caricatural, nothing extreme \u2013 but a regular, constant, measurable trend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here's the most important point for us: our work reveals that the plurality of points of view comes mainly from the guests, and much less from the journalists themselves. In other words, when contradiction does appear, it is most often brought in from the outside. The editorial framework, on the other hand, tends to privilege an implicit ideological coherence, tending towards the left. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, our analysis shows that the emission of \u00abHigh Frequency\u00bb<\/a> is the one with the most left-wing ideological coloration \u2013 even more so than other RTS content devoted to religious issues. If we put this in relation to the relative neutrality of humorous interventions, a curious observation emerges: neutrality is fun; being left-wing is sacred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n