Quebecers have never followed the American elections as much as those of 2020. It must be said that the media have multiplied special programs, columns and analyzes in recent years, without missing anything of Donald Trump’s escapades, even if it means abandoning local news. Did they just do too much?
This is the question at the heart of the book The White House seen from Quebec, which will arrive in Quebec bookstores on Thursday. Co-signed by Karine Prémont and Marie-Ève Carignan, respectively professors in applied politics and communication at the University of Sherbrooke, the book dissects the interest of Quebecers in American politics and reviews the evolution of coverage that make the media here.
It all started with a simple observation by the two authors: the explosion of media interview requests on the political mechanics of the United States and the incredible daily life of President Trump.
Were Quebecers really thirsty for American news, or was it rather the result of reporters’ fascination for this extraordinary character?
To find answers, the professors conducted interviews with over 100 media professionals and specialists in American politics and communications.
Eclipse
First observation: the place given to American policy in the Quebec media jumped when Donald Trump ran for the White House in 2016.
Several columns, for example, have appeared on the major news channels, on the radio or in the newspapers. Special coverage during debates, investitures and election evenings also took on a scale unmatched until then.
Experts interviewed in the trial confirm that they have been increasingly solicited by the media. The ex-president was drawing attention with his angry tweets and inflammatory statements, which were widely reported and analyzed. Sometimes excessively – in the opinion of many – and also to the detriment of important local news. Karine Prémont gives the example of the leadership races of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Parti Québécois, almost ignored in 2020.
Why then cover every stunt of the Republican billionaire? Using the words of several interviewees, Mr.me Prémont describes Donald Trump as “the perfect storm”. “There was a kind of intrigue throughout the election and during his presidency to see how far he would go. We followed it like a soap opera », She explains.
Media professionals have told her that they are aware of the “exaggerated” place given to the character in the media space, she says, but many feel they have not had the choice to talk about it as much. “If our coverage of Trump was necessarily exaggerated, it is because the character was completely disproportionate”, comments the journalist at Radio-Canada Gérald Fillion in the book. “Difficult not to cover it like a show, especially since it was exactly what it offered”, adds his colleague Michel C. Auger.
And the show, of course, sells. “When we talked about Trump, it was paying, the media had visibility, they had clicks, they sold copies, summarizes in interview Karine Prémont. It was profitable for us as well, the experts. When we talk about Trump on television or on the radio, there are people who listen to us, who write to us, who discover us. “
Under the varnish
But it is precisely because the former American president was constantly pushing the limits and arousing real fears in Quebec that it was necessary to talk about it so much, note the two authors.
“If there is a positive side to Trump, it is that he forced us to dig into this American society, to scratch the varnish to see what was going on there. Not that we weren’t doing it before, but suddenly it became more urgent to do it, ”Radio-Canada journalist Janic Tremblay told them.
“It’s all in the way, in the dosage,” believes Professor Prémont. What emerges from our interviews is that we have to distinguish between what is interesting and what is important. I don’t have the impression that we have always done it well, both specialists and journalists. […] We were so inundated with information that we were no longer able to distinguish between things. “
And the journalists interviewed are well aware of it, she adds. However, they face significant challenges: lack of resources, time or access to sources of information in the United States to be able to detach themselves from Donald Trump’s tweets and do more reporting on the ground across the United States. .
What emerges from our interviews is that we have to distinguish between what is interesting and what is important. I don’t have the impression that we have always done it well, both specialists and journalists.
Yet it is “the best way to take the pulse of American voters directly to […] understand the nature of the issues and the problems underlying their political choices ”.
Now that Donald Trump is gone, replaced in the Oval Office by Joe Biden in January 2021, Karine Prémont has seen a drop in interview requests of around 95%. But this lull could be short-lived: all it would take is a return from Mr. Trump or the entry into play of an equally polarizing candidate for specialists to plunge back into the same scenario.