Power and journalists in France: a story of contact and distrust

Audio 29:57

By: Steven Jambot Follow | Simon Decreuze Follow

The Media Workshop received Alexis Lévrier, specialist in the history of journalism, to talk about the climate of mistrust that currently reigns in France between the government and journalists. In this interview, we also talk about another distrust, that of a part of public opinion against the dominant media, but also of the economic crisis which accompanies the health crisis of the coronavirus and strikes hard the media ecosystem.

Publicity

Alexis Lévrier is a lecturer at the University of Reims and an associate researcher at Gripic , the research laboratory in information and communication sciences at Celsa - Sorbonne University.

"  I think we are indeed in a fairly critical phase  ," says the academic, who describes the current situation as a "  very worrying squared crisis  ", with on the one hand the digital transition which is changing the economy of journalism and of on the other hand, the conjunctural crisis of the coronavirus. 

In times of crisis, "  there is always pressure on the media to agree to relay official information  ", explains Alexis Lévrier who is pleased that the media have not weakened in recent months in France. "  Fortunately, the press did not succumb to this temptation, because otherwise, in addition to the economic crisis, we would have a moral crisis, a crisis of confidence in the press and it is absolutely not the case . "He believes that"  the press was at the rendezvous of this test, it played its role perfectly and that is why in the long term, we can hope that it will manage to get out of this economic crisis  ".

Emmanuel "Jupiter  " Macron and the media

Emmanuel Macron and those around him "  do not know the press  " and journalists, says Alexis Lévrier. "  They have in common not to have followed the course honorum which was that of politics until then" and therefore did not make the "companionship with the press  " which "  forces to deal with the media power  ".

Has the Jupiterian approach reached its limits? “  The problem is that the Jupiterian power refers to a certain practice vis-à-vis the press. Jupiter, the term had been used by François Mitterrand's communicator, Jacques Pilhan, who was someone who claimed to use the media in a very pragmatic but also very contemptuous manner.  "

Alexis Lévrier reminds us that François Mitterrand had been interviewed several times by journalists who were the wives of his ministers - Christine Ockrent or Anne Sinclair. "  These are things that would be unimaginable today,  " said the academic.

For Alexis Lévrier, Emmanuel Macron made a "  mistake  ": "  He believed that we could go back to earlier times, the way that François Mitterrand or General de Gaulle had to communicate. Except that times have changed, public expectations are no longer the same and the attitude of the media is no longer the same.  "

“  There is also a change in the media time with the news channels that constantly need images. The choice to shorten the presidential speech, which corresponds to what Mitterrand wanted to do, could work. (...) It worked well at the start but over time it couldn't be right.  "

The Sibeth Ndiaye case

In 2018, during his vows to the press, Emmanuel Macron had used the expression "healthy distance" to talk about the relationship he intended to have with journalists. But currently, "  it's more than distance, we have mistrust, we have contempt, we sometimes have brutality towards the press  ".

Sibeth Ndiaye, current government spokesperson, seems to crystallize this distrust. She was in charge of press relations for Emmanuel Macron during the 2017 campaign. Her profile is clearly combative. She assumes to lie to protect the president. Evidence of bad faith, regular omissions ... 

“  Sibeth Ndiaye continued as a government spokesperson to do what she did during the presidential campaign : to cover up, to protect the president. What was acceptable as a communications officer was no longer as a spokesperson, especially in a crisis like the coronavirus, which imposed a requirement for transparency everywhere. Faced with this requirement, Sibeth Ndiaye continues to do what she did before, that is, to lie.  Thus, on the masks, "  the French have understood enough that they were being lied to and that the one who was responsible for transparency was the one who lied to them the most  ".

In the end, Alexis Lévrier believes that, as a whole, the French press has done its job rather well since the start of the coronavirus crisis. "  The press understood that its own credibility and the public interest wanted it to play its role of counterweight, to assume its critical function. She hadn't done the same thing at the time of Chernobyl or the Gulf War.  "And to add:"  I really feel that the press has been able to reconnect with the public while playing the critical role that is theirs.  "

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• Media
• Journalism
• History
• France
• Emmanuel Macron
• Coronavirus
• Freedom of press

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