The Local Press as a Medium to Create Diversion

Loïc Ballarini (1)

1 Crem - Centre de Recherche sur les Médiations

The press with the largest circulation in France—and which is virtually unknown abroad—are regional newspapers (around 50 dailies and 150 weeklies). In this chapter, Loïc Ballarini explores the content in these newspapers. Through an analysis of more than 1500 articles, he examines how the French regional press can claim (or not) to reflect the geographical area it covers. Despite the apparent diversity of news, the research shows a strict hierarchy of local information, which is voluntarily complacent about those in power and almost never critical. As if it were stuck in the consensus-based model that made it successful a century ago, the local press is unable to put its finger on long-term shifts and changes in the region. The author describes it as a diversion of attention away from social dynamics towards extremely simplified social constructs.

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Sciences de l'information et de la communication

Loïc Ballarini. The Local Press as a Medium to Create Diversion. Ballarini Loïc. The Independence of the News Media. Francophone Research on Media, Economics and Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, pp.133-153, 2020, Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research - A Palgrave and IAMCR Series, 978-3-030-34053-7. ⟨10.1007/978-3-030-34054-4_7⟩. ⟨hal-03023179⟩