France has been the near the center of media drama for a long time, and they are back in the fray more than ever. Whether it is their controversial immigration policies, presidential drama, or their everlasting influence on what is hip, France finds a way to relevance. Their current private and public media landscape mirrors the USA. They are not as free as they think, their government is a mess, and their politicians treat the positions they have been elected to like a game. Am I talking about France or the United States in that sentence? Both?
France can no longer fund its private media, so how are they staying afloat? Mountains of grants is how, grants from those with opinions. In France, State owned media has been at the forefront quite a long time, with privately owned media being a close second. In the shadows, their media and politics have been increasingly affected by shareholders and privatization. France’s response to a 3% from 89% to 86% decrease in viewership of their country wide broadcast TF1 (Televison France), was to release a 24 breaking news network (Franceinfo) and a 24 hour news radio (radio france) under the French State owned media blanket. This is what has lead private French news sources to expand vastly. Monte Carlo Doualiya broadcasts across the entire Middle East. They have worldwide broadcasts that reach all French speaking countries. From my POV, France has something to gain, and they want as many people to see it as possible. In recent years though, the measures taken by the body entrusted with keeping the French press vivid, vibrant, and pluralistic have failed. It is said that without the mounting subsidiary grants, many of France’s private news publications would fail. Due to this, many of these publications have loosened their grip on the truth to stay in business, and French media is no longer as trustworthy as it used to be. This trend began shortly after WW2, and they have been rightfully criticized ever since. French News has a propensity to make news out of itself, hence the Charlie shooting. This is what lead France to being ranked 39th in Press Freedom, and 51st in overall freedom. The common take is that French media is barely actually in the hands of the people as they think it is. It is an illusion of freedom.
The United States not to dissimilarly is dealing with an age of instability and untruths in the media. One of the core differences is that US media is not state owned, it is privately owned. Also, the majority of American citizens are not under the illusion that American media has their best interests in mind, but some still believe it like gospel. Unfortunately, lots of American media is known to sell to the highest bidder, and does not have Americans best interest in mind. But instead of criticizing Fox, Google, or Facebook, lets take a quick look at what exactly the US media did to get to this point. The United States media has been at points the driving force behind the American economy. Back in the days of the penny press, print news actually was the most manufactured product in the United States. Since the beginning, entertainment and news media have been money making machines in the United States. Circulation of the news was also a massive effort back then, which has continued through today. The United States national media has relentless circulation. I read through around so many countries profiles on the Media Landscape website, and a couple commonalities between the ones with the best press freedom, was that they had low circulation and plenty of local options. Compare that to the countries that treat News Media like a cash cow, and cash becomes the obvious variable as to why countries like that struggle. In France and the USA, if the ratings are not good enough, the news is not interesting enough. And so we make our own news.
And so the truth is lost not only from the bottom line, but political propaganda, and broken infrastructure. This is what has lead to the USA being ranked below 70th in press freedom, 117th in overall freedom, and overall no longer a happy country. The truth is not even out there anymore, even for those with a talent for finding truth. Investigative reporting is done by corporations, and political reporting is paid for by people with a stake in the game. And for France, they are even lower, sitting at 89th out of 100 free countries in the world. Their media is more corporately funded than ever, they are actively silencing former colonies like Algeria, and the collective are blissfully unaware. I can only imagine what would happen in the United States if TV news broadcasts were federally run.
The Peanut Gallery 