“Talking about working-class neighborhoods only when they are burning gives this figure”, laments the director of the Bondy Blog

Sarah Ichou, journalist and editorial director of Bondy Blog, deplores on franceinfo Thursday July 13, the lack of representation of working-class neighborhoods on television, with only 3% of the airtime being devoted to them according to a report from Arcom released Thursday.

“Talking about working-class neighborhoods only when they are burning or when something too exceptional is happening, that gives a figure like the one we have today, they are not present enough in the media space”launches Sarah Ichou.

“A media representation not in tune with the reality on the ground”

For the director of the Bondy Blog, a media created following the 2005 riots, “18 years later, the observation is quite bitter because we realize that not much has changed, according to her, both in the territory but also in the media treatment”.

During the urban violence that shook France at the end of June, after the death of Nahel M. in Nanterre from a police shooting, the images were in his eyes “problem”, “a media representation not in tune with the reality on the ground”.

Sarah Ichou believes that a “part of the problem” lies in the low proportion of journalists from working-class neighborhoods in the newsrooms. “It’s important to also change the social history of journalists, so that there are other reflexes”she says.