Emmanuel Macron bans RT and Sputnik. Is the Presidential hopeful out to kill free speech in France?

Emmanuel Macron has banned popular international media outlets RT and Sputnik from his campaign headquarters and his private events which most media sources are more or less automatically allowed to cover.

After Macron’s victory in the first round of the French elections, The Duran asked if a nationwide ban would come to pass during a Macron Presidency,

“The attitude Macron’s campaign has displayed towards RT is simply appalling. Few journalistic organisations operating in the modern market place of ideas can really influence an election beyond giving air time to the candidates themselves.

If giving air time to candidates that many in the MSM wrote off as ‘losers’ is a crime, then RT is guilty. I prefer to refer to this as having balance which is the only thing that one could accuse RT of promulgating during its election coverage. The question must be asked, if Macron becomes President will he ban RT from France? I wouldn’t put it past him to do something like that.

That sounds a lot like the ‘creeping fascism’ which the MSM associate with Marine Le Pen. The irony beggars belief.”.

READ MORE: RT banned from Macron events. Is a national ban next?

Macron’s campaign continually accuse both RT and Sputnik of spreading fake news,  but when Reuters asked Macron’s people to produce evidence of this, they refused to do so. The fact is that no such evidence exists.

People are allowed to disagree with the editorial policy of RT and Sputnik as much as one can disagree with that of CNN or BBC, but an all out ban in the self-proclaimed land of ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’ seems a bit dictatorial. Some would even say it is fascistic, the epithet which is so unfairly hurled at Macron’s opponent Marine Le Pen.

READ MORE: Fascism returns to Europe as the west looks away

RT regularly covers politicians with anti-Russian policy platforms and attitudes. This includes political figures in Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Germany and of course the United States where RT covered the Hillary Clinton campaign as much as it did that of Donald Trump. RT also gave more air time to Bernie Sanders, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green party candidate Jill Stein than any of America’s mainstream media outlets.

Macron is typical of a new brand of French politician who ‘questions less’ and thinks even less than that. Modern French politics have always been colourful by American, British or Canadian standards. French politicians used to be known for quoting philosophers and poets where the English speaking world favoured either soundbites, catch phrases or attempts at humour.

Macron is not of this mould. He is more of a department store mannequin whose ego far outshines any originality or intelligence.

Is modern France really going to be a nation at war with free speech? This is what a Macron Presidency could look like. Vive la difference has been replaced by a gloomy, cookie-cutter Rothschild banker who resorts to censorship before engaging in an honest debate.