Unequal Time

One might think that Gaston Defferre, French Socialist candidate for President and the only man so far to challenge Charles de Gaulle in the next election, would be a prime TV news subject in his homeland. But when he be gan his campaign with a series of rallies in Bordeaux last month, not a glimpse of his face appeared on French video screens. Last week when a television interview with Defferre, shot by a West German network, was made available to France's state broadcasting monopoly, Radiodiffusion, Television Franchise, the film wound up on the cutting-room floor. R.T.F.'s producers, who scissored it out of a prepared news program, explained: "The presidential campaign is not yet open." The episodes underscored an issue that is producing a crescendo of static in non-Gaullist ranks, and even among some conscience-stricken Gaullists them selves--De Gaulle's blithe appropriation of France's radio and TV grid for his own political uses. When De Gaulle speaks, his words are broadcast repeatedly; but Defferre, since announcing his candidacy in December, has become the Invisible Man on the French TV screen.

On the infrequent occasions when newscasters note that Defferre has delivered a speech, they studiously overlook his critiques of Gaullism. This is especially important since polls show that Defferre, mayor of Marseille, is still unknown to 42% of the nation's populace. Firing off an acid letter to the President, Defferre asked whether his exposure problem might be "because I am a candidate for the presidency." Of course De Gaulle did not reply. Instead, his aides made the blackout official by decreeing that presidential candidates would be allowed only two hours each of radio and TV time, and then only during the last two weeks before the election, which is due to be held before Dec. 21, 1965.

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