the French as seen by “Le Monde”

Fragments of France, it is the name of the original project carried out by The world : 100 reports produced throughout the country, meeting the French. The newspaper mobilized 100 of its journalists in September, accompanied by 100 photographers, to draw up an X-ray of France, in the run-up to the presidential election. “The idea came to us while thinking about the presidential campaign and our coverage, explains Nicolas Chapuis, deputy editor of the World, in charge of project management. A reflection often came up: the portrait of the country that we see in a certain number of media and also in the statements of many political leaders is not the country that we know, that we see on a daily basis. We are described as a stunted country, folded in on itself, prey to identity obsessions. These issues exist of course, but in the field the French talk about many other things. We have not enough people who have spoken to us about Islam or the French identity, but rather purchasing power, the effect of the health crisis, dependence which is a major subject. The environment is also of concern to most French people. “

“The idea is not to paint an idyllic portrait of a dream country, but it is a country that has held up during the health crisis and we do not recall it often enough.”

Nicolas chapuis

to franceinfo

In short, the newspaper wants to show that reality is more complex, less binary than we hear on the news channels. “No, France is not on the verge of a civil war. Yes there are many tensions in society, but the scenario of the civil war is a political narrative that one tries to impose as the dominant narrative. . As one tries to impose in the media the fact that the dominant journalism is an opinion journalism. We, one thinks that the journalism of opinion has all its place but in its time. The first mission of journalism is not not giving an opinion, she is going to see the facts, to verify the information. “ While recognizing that a report is always subjective, Nicolas Chapuis defends an operation which makes “praise the nuance compared to the cartoons that can be seen in some media. “