WikiLeaks: Americans criticize the French press

Bilingual post FR & EN

*** French version

L’image des médias français est loin d’être bonne outre-atlantique.

Extraits du câble 07 Paris 306, Ambassade américaine à Paris.

Blog L'Express:

"Le quotidien Le Monde a publié quelques unes des

données fournies par WikiLeaks sur les 251 287

documents confidentiels de la diplomatie américaine

diffusés sur Internet. Pourtant, l’un d’entre eux,

très critique sur la presse française, n’a pas été

retenu. Comme l’a relevé Olivier Fraysse sur Twitter,

l’image des médias français est loin d’être bonne

outre-atlantique" :"Le quotidien Le Monde a publié

quelques unes des données fournies par WikiLeaks sur

les 251 287 documents confidentiels de la diplomatie

américaine diffusés sur Internet. Pourtant, l’un

d’entre eux, très critique sur la presse française, n’a

pas été retenu. Comme l’a relevé Olivier Fraysse sur

Twitter, l’image des médias français est loin d’être

bonne outre-atlantique" :

http://bit.ly/e97Mlk

*** English version, quote of the cable

"ENGAGEMENT WITH MUSLIM COMMUNITIES - FRANCE"

"Media Environment"

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2007/01/07PARIS306.html

¶11. As in other European countries, French media reporting of U.S.

policies and intentions is often skeptical. Reporting by the

mainstream media on Arab Muslims and their issues, however, is

typically not so much negative as negligent, falling short both in

its coverage of discrimination towards them and of juvenile

delinquency among them.

¶12. Official Americans and pro-USG surrogates have ready access to

most French media to convey official policy messages, but using that

access effectively presents a special challenge. Superior French

language and presentation skills are especially important for making

effective use of French broadcast media. Communicating to the

French about the treatment of their minorities, a topic they

themselves are often reticent to explore in depth, is more difficult

for us than, say, describing our own, American experience. Any

ill-prepared efforts to reach out to France's Muslim audiences could

easily become counter-productive. We therefore must continue to

proceed with care.

¶13. Our primary media focus needs to be on TV and radio,

but print - and the new media - should not be ignored.

¶14. Fewer or less than one French adult in four reads a national

newspaper regularly. Regional papers are still important, however,

with Ouest France (Rennes) being the largest daily. The French are

more avid magazine readers, buying over three billion copies a year.

¶15. French broadcasting is partly state-owned and partly in the

hands of private enterprise. Most French TV viewers still,

reportedly, prefer the six major broadcast channels, but the number

of channels offered by various cable and satellite operators

continues to grow, with the newest being France 24, a CNN-like

24-hour news-station. Average French TV viewership is over five and

one-half hours per day.

¶16. Radio, especially FM, remains an important medium in France:

over 99 per cent of French households own at least one radio and

almost 5 in 6 over the age of 13 year listen to the radio daily. As

with TV, French radio is part state-owned and part private.

¶17. Top French journalists are often products of the same elite

schools as many French government leaders. These journalists do not

necessarily regard their primary role as to check the power of

government. Rather, many see themselves more as intellectuals,

preferring to analyze events and influence readers more than to

report events.

¶18. The private sector media in France - print and broadcast -

continues to be dominated by a small number of conglomerates, and

all French media are more regulated and subjected to political and

commercial pressures than are their American counterparts. The

Higher Audio-Visual Council, created in 1989, appoints the CEOs of

all French public broadcasting channels and monitors their political

content.

¶19. Internet access is growing steadily in France, especially among

the younger generation, rapidly replacing traditional media. All

important television and radio channels in France have their own

websites, as do the major print media. Blogs are an increasingly

popular method of communication for minorities and NGOs, who use

them to express opinions they do not feel are reflected in the

traditional media.

¶20. France's first generation Arab immigrants typically continue to

read publications from their countries of origin, and the major

Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian papers are widely available in

larger French cities. These individuals also watch satellite and

cable TV stations in Arabic, including Al-Jazeerah TV. Second and

third generation French Arabs, however, are typically not literate

in Arab, and their print media habits are similar to those of other

French readers." Unquote

Sources: WikiLeaks, Le Monde, L'Express, JournaListe, Reporter's notes

WikiLeaks: Americans criticize the French press by Asian Gazette is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.