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French Television Society

Examine critically how French television represents the French nation in its programmes, news broadcasts, dramas, entertainment programmes, etc. Select a specific programme broadcast on one of the French public channels FR2 or FR3 or private channels TF1 or M6 (etc.), and examine the way the programme represents or mis-represents the plurality of the French nation, or its coverage of international events. Comment on how that reflects on the French perception of nationhood or how France sees its role in the world.

After having researched this topic it is my belief that French television has a tendency to mis-represent the nation as a whole in its programmes. It does not take long to realise the distinct lack of non European origin people featuring in national broadcasts and one begins to asks the question why this is so. After all, television is to an extent a reflection on society and French media seems to portray a white image of France ignoring the history of immigration France has become renowned for.

Immigration has been present since the 19^th century in France as the state was forced to open the doors to migrants due to a decreasing birth rate. Up until the beginning of the Second World War immigration in France consisted mostly of Europeans.

This soon changed as France experienced a severe lack of labour thus encouraging migrants of all backgrounds including Moroccans, Tunisians and those from Black Africa to uproot to France. During the 1970s labour immigration began to be replaced by that of population immigration of Third world immigrants changing the face of the country completely, something which France as a nation had never previously seen.

According to a survey conducted in the 1970s the population of France consisted of: 1.5 million Europeans, 1.4 million North Africans and 400,000 Asians. This compared to a French population of 52 million people. However, these figures did not remain static as the population continued to soar with many more Algerians and Moroccans continuing to flood into France encouraged by the prospect of bringing their families with them. As a direct result of this the number of Non-European permanent workers grew from 3.7 million in 1982 to 4.2 million in 1990.

Thus France today has a heritage of immigration which led to it becoming a multicultural country during the 1990s. Such immigration has undoubtedly caused huge change to the demography of France with 1/5 of the population having one ascendant of foreign background. However, this melting pot that was, and continues, to be France today does not appear to be reflected in French television. This presents an interesting investigation.

France is unquestionably a multiethnic country and television is a form representation for the society of a nation so why is there such a lack of people of extra European origin present on French television? After all they are an entire part of society that have such little time present on the televisions’ of the French nation.

The constant image of “white” France that is portrayed and beamed to the country’s millions couldn’t be further for the social make-up of France today. Television reaches very diverse audiences and repeatedly constructs a representation of that public. Each day, television draws a collective identity with changing boundaries. It would seem logical to say that French television of today is 20 years out dated in that a huge part of the French population has been ignored and not equally represented.

Feelings of exclusion, anger and identification issues are just some the problems that result as a consequence of this lack of representation. Considering this part of the population form such a large proportion of society it is worrying to discover just how big a role this plays in contributing to further social exclusion.

It is also interesting to discover how this exclusion manifests itself. It is no secret that this part of society has for a long time been worse off than most native French people. For the majority they are based on the outskirts of main cities with unemployment and racism a part of daily life. Their lack of representation on French television must, without a doubt, contribute significantly to their exclusion from French society.

Currently there is little research that has been conducted into the representation of ethnic minorities on French television. The subject is still one which causes tension amongst the French media and political figures with debate on the subject still a phenomenon that offers many conflicting views.

During the early 1990s a research group examined the relation between French television and immigration. The study took 15 days of programmes from terrestrial French television and examined the image that was given to those immigrants of extra European origin. The key conclusions that were drawn from the study included: Few professionals of foreign origin are visible of television.

Ethnic minorities are present in programmes concerning news therefore they appear to belong to French social reality. Despite this, they rarely express themselves and are often in the background present in subjects that give a negative representation of ethnic minorities including situations such as unemployment, poverty, violence etc. Interestingly minorities take up a lot of space in programmes related to music and sport. A white representation of society is more often than not given in French fiction with any ethnic minorities usually reduced to negative stereotype roles.

When the results from this study were published at the beginning of the 1990s the media did not even notice these highly alarming problems that the research had highlighted in French television. It wasn’t until 1998 that real interest began to be shown in investigating this concern further. It was the Audiovisual Supreme Council that launched another study and began to finally recognise that the problem that existed. This was the first time an institution so big publicly accepted that a severe underlying issue needed to be critically tackled.

Their objective was to evaluate the place and image of visible minorities. This term began to be used to describe those whose ethnic origins were apparent and those who were physically different from the French white majority. The same principal was used in this study as was in the previous conducted in the early 1990s however programmes on set and scripted programmes were distinguished. It was found that once again minority presenters represented a small portion of television professionals.

Maghrebian and Asian people were found to be almost non-existent in any television programme whereas black people were slightly more apparent. It is not an easy task to make people aware and act on this problem that is engrained into French media. There are many reasons why this is hard to demonstrate. Firstly it is extremely difficult to know exactly how many people of ethnic origin are present in France as the national census system does not permit this.

Considering France is based on an egalitarian and universalistic system it would not be morally correct to make a census of people arranged by their ethnicity as this would totally ignore the principal of equality to all French citizens which the state promotes. Also another major reason is the fact that France will not adopt the term “minority”.

This represents a major problem for researchers in the field as the figures and statistics are all too vague for concrete conclusions to be made. Because the representation of ethnic minorities on French television is qualitative rather than quantative it is easy to see why the problem is often considered too simplistic thus making it difficult to apply any perspective on the matter.

It has been noted from these studies that visible minorities are rarely actors in any television show and are often reduced to the role of extras playing transparent characters with no place to express themselves. It might be for this reason that French television viewers get the impression there is a lack of visible minorities, merely because they play such low key roles. Any minorities that are present predominantly consist of Black American’s featuring in fictions and music videos.

Without this outlet it seems that black people would rarely been seen on the televisions of the French nation. Integration poses another big issue as there is no sign of this occurring in reality for ethnic minorities on television. There is often the stereotype that they are simply from elsewhere and not a part of French society. Despite France’s diverse social make-up these people are constantly thought of as permanent foreigners.

Another observation to be made is the somewhat homogenous entity which ethnic minorities are given on French television. For example, Maghrebians and blacks when featured will have the same features and simplistic traits given to them. This often includes being athletic, disruptive and having drug problems amongst other things.

Minorities almost always have negative features, being shown to not comply with the social system. Such a negative stereotype potentially takes it roots from black history that includes slavery and colonisation. Admittedly, the French media has a principle of simplifying most things to make them widely understood by viewers but surely this is an issue far deeper than first apparent.

So far we have looked at the general observations and potential reasoning behind what can be seen on French television. One of those observations is that Asians and Maghrebians and barely visible on screen. For this reason it makes sense to observe the one group that does have some, if only a little, screen time. I will now focus on one specific case study that caused quite a debate in France in 2004.

Audrey Pulvar was seen as a co-presenter of the show Soir 3 appearing on French national television. The 32 year old man from Martinque made history by being the first black newsreader to present the main evening news on the station. When interviewed regarding his new role in television he remarked “French TV just does not reflect the reality of French society. There is a whole part of the French population that is not represented there. Or, if it is, it’s stigmatised in dreadful clichés – the black dealer, the Moroccan greengrocer”, a problem which was previously highlighted.

Furthermore, that year, the High Council on integration insisted that every French broadcaster must ensure immigrants be “fairly and properly represented”. Shortly after the state broadcaster France Télévisions which runs three of the six terrestrial channels announced plans to boost ethnic minorities’ presence both on screen and behind the scenes. In a bid to seemingly change its ways the chief executive of the broadcaster stated “the French have been able to recognise themselves.

Fifteen percent of our population are immigrants of non-European origin. Watching TV, no one would ever know it.” When questioned regarding her appointment to France 3 evening news the black presenter, Pulvar, acknowledges it was a long over-due change. She hopes to be judged for her journalistic talent rather than because the broadcaster felt a black face was merely needed due to the pressure it was placed under. One can understand her position and feels that like her, the many ethnic minorities that work hard to pursue a career should not be held back by this negative stereotyping which has been made apparent in France.

However, in saying this, it is still clear that few African immigrants have moved far up the socio-economic ladder. France will not allow positive discrimination to be used as doing this would be a self-admission that equality, a core principle of the republic, has failed. Quotas may be an unreasonable step for broadcasters to take but it is evident that some measures need to be taken to allow Black, Arab and Asian people to be visible on French television. There had always been a fear that if this was the case the French population would simply switch off their televisions.

These unfounded thoughts were shown to be incorrect when figures for the broadcast Soir 3 were higher than those for the previous year. Those responsible for the appointment of Pulvar insist that their choice was primarily professional but did admit they intended to spark a small revolution in the world of French television. The appointment of the first black newsreader may well be a step in the right direction however there is much to do to ensure that ethnic minorities can be equally treated in all sectors of work.

The question is not whether racism is present in France but what methods are used to display it. They appear to be less visible than in countries such as Britain where violence between different ethnic groups has occurred. Perhaps this is due to the nature of Republicanism in France. The state aim to share the belief of equality between all citizens seems to give way to a more latent type of racism which may not result is violence but is nonetheless present.

To conclude, it is quite obvious that this subject is still very taboo in France. There have been few books, journals and articles written on this topic which makes it all the more interesting to observe. The study that was conducted by the CSA was not well received in the media and intellectual world. They were accused of attempting to have quotas installed which would create a community approach in republican country, something the state are very much against.

Other criticism included the accusation of racial discrimination on behalf of the CSA as they were observing people according to their ethnic origins and others claimed it was dangerous to brand them as it recalled the Vichy period of World War 2. Perhaps the biggest criticism was the use of the term “visible minority”. France has for a long time long rejected the use of this term as it is deemed to be one of discrimination. Their argument is that classification of people of foreign origin in this way somehow does not render them real French citizenship and the use of such language is strongly frowned upon by the state. What is most worrying is that these strong, passionate arguments by those against the subject go a long way towards proving that France as a country is in complete denial of this problem that has been brought to the surface.

They are not yet ready to examine the problems present in their own integration system, nor the latent racism that takes place throughout the country. In studying French television media we have been able to observe the way French society represents itself as an entity. Thus far we have found that the face of French television is a pale one and far from multicultural. The fear is that if this continues to be the way society is represented and France does not confront its problems then these ethnic minorities will simply withdraw from society, far from the ideal egalitarian and universalistic notions France supposedly stands for.

The problem of representation on French television has never been realised as a problem by broadcasters. As previously mentioned the subject is still very much taboo with no room for open debate on the question. Although studies conducted have shed much light on the topic and contributed towards greater awareness there has been little change. Some broadcasters have incorporated minority journalists and films have made a conscious effort to include more actors of extra European origin. However, much to the disappointed of those involved in highlighting the issues surrounding French broadcasting there has not been a great revolution in the way ethnic minorities are portrayed on the television screens of the French nation.

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