Sunday, April 15, 2007

Journalistic independence in France

Via a long chain of googling too tedious to repeat, I find a wonderful poll on public attitudes towards French journalists. My interest was drawn to the question on public perceptions of journalistic independence. Two questions are asked, one on independence from political parties, and one on independence from economic concerns. Here's the time-series on independence from political parties. Only one third of French people believe journalists are independent.


Rappel enquête SOFRES

Déc 2001

nov 1993

déc 1994

déc 1995

déc 1996

déc 1997

déc 1998

déc 1999

déc 2000

From political parties and the powerful

Yes, they're independent

No, they're not independent

Wouldn't say

32

56

12

33

55

12

28

62

10

30

59

11

27

64

9

32

59

9

28

60

12

32

59

9

33

55

12



Unfortunately, the question wasn't asked for different channels, so there's no direct way of telling whether journalists from France Televisions are judged less independent, say, than journalists from TF1. (One could run cross-tabs on main channel watched and perceptions of independence, but the link would be tenuous).

In general, the news isn't good for France Televisions: whilst in 1989, 43% of respondents cited either France 2 or France 3 as their most trusted source of television information, compared to 33% who said the same of TF1, the gap has now swung in TF1's favour, with 41% citing it as their most trusted source, compared to the joint total of 35% for France 2 and 3, with the latter gaining impressively.

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