World News: France’s CNews Serves up Conservative Politics

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Monday, 03 June 2024 15:07

Written by Olivier Longhi

The rise of the French CNews news channel, the equivalent of Fox News, confirms the nations appetite has moved to the right and is no longer open to objectivity, proving a rupture of intellectualism across society.

An article published in the newspaper Le Monde on June 3, 2024, confirms this: the continuous news channel CNews has exceeded its direct competitor BFM-TV by 0.1% of its market share. The information could almost appear anecdotal, especially in view of the infinitesimal gap that separates the two scores, but it is symptomatic of television and social reality rich in lessons. The first is that CNews' editorial line, described as populist and close to radical theses, seems today to be accepted by a public fond of information treated from this angle.

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Flashy Information

But also, more surprisingly, by information professionals, in this case journalists, who no longer hesitate, under the guise of information and freedom of information, to engage in paths where journalistic ethics and morals are politely set aside in favor of remarks that ARCOM, the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication, is regularly led to condemn or sanction.

The second lesson of a social essence is that CNews is primarily aimed at an audience that is generally attracted by noisy information, based on comments on the information and not on a factual analysis of reality which would then call for an objective explanation.

This same public, often at odds with institutions deemed manipulative or capable of vampirizing them, thus reveals itself to be little cultured, little or not at all turned towards sources of information recognized as reliable because labeled as in the hands of the state or some dark forces.

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Ease and Poverty

The marriage of these two elements thus contributes to the success of this television channel, which is closer to an organ of opinion than to a media with an objective journalistic vocation. However, CNews is by no means an isolated case because other channels such as Fox News in the United States are entering this deliberately oriented sphere of information.

The ease and poverty of the debates that animate the program schedule attract an audience that is uncomfortable with the notions of reflection because it is intellectually demanding. The immediacy of the information thus delivered supplants the expected quality of information articulated around the notions of verification of sources, the relevance of the comment and the reflection it induces.

Ultimately, the success of CNews. reflects our time where ease and immediacy feed an intellectual mediocrity that has become the norm and is no longer the exception.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.