“Accidents Without Borders”? The Renationalization of a Global Problem in the French Media
Résumé
Although nuclear accidents are often presented as inherently global issues, the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011 developed above all into a problem for France in the French news media. This seems surprising when compared to the coverage of Chernobyl in 1986, which rendered international debates visible. Based on a comparative analysis of the newspaper Le Monde and the TV channel France 2, this chapter shows how these changes of frames can be related to the creation, since Chernobyl, of transnational organizations for nuclear safety. These bodies reframed the ways in which the international effects of nuclear energy appear in the news media, reducing the visibility of international stakes in this controversial policy field. Government agencies play a key role in “renationalizing” nuclear accidents by adapting international stakes and information to national contexts.