A surprise dissolution, a campaign full of twists and turns, everything came together for the media to be passionate about political news since the evening of June 9. To the point of making these elections the political event of the decade, according to a study carried out by Théo Verdier.
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“We have a media flood on the radios, on the screens, the French newspapers on this campaign“, notes, Wednesday June 26, Théo Verdier, expert associated with the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, which has just unveiled a study on the media coverage of legislative elections. According to this study, this campaign is quite simply the political-media event of the decade. The contents of 117 general media: radio, television, written press and web were analyzed between the evening of June 9, with the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly, and June 21, i.e. the first 13 days of the campaign.
Since the announcement of the dissolution by Emmanuel Macron, these legislative elections have “generated almost six times more content than Europeans“, 16,124 against 2,823 for the European vote, notes this study. “We have had a rise in media waters in a few days and if you compare to the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022, even to a World Cup, we are at a media impact comparable and superior to all political events.“, specifies Théo Verdier. “If we even look at the number of content published in relation to the European elections“, who have just passed, we are at “a ratio of 1 to 8“.
Does this event really excite the French? This is, according to Théo Verdier, a question that will have to be analyzed cold. Even if Emmanuel Macron’s speech on the dissolution was seen by 15 million people, he questions the question of “overfull“, “we will have to see if interest declines“. The debate between the three main candidates, Tuesday June 25, on TF1 brought together 5.5 million viewers, a figure “interesting“but which is also not one”surge“, according to him. Pensions first, purchasing power second and, tied for third place, immigration and anti-Semitism are the themes that the candidates have taken up in this lightning campaign and even if, thanks to the debates and interviews, they emerge or disappear, Théo Verdier concludes that this campaign “portfolio, pensions, minimum wage, purchasing power, is a daily campaign“.
This study also carried out a survey of a series of seven broadcasts on CNEWS, Europe 1 and C8, belonging to the Bolloré group. In these programs between June 10 and 21, “35% of the 91 political guests listed on these three channels represent, or say they are close to, the far-right bloc“.”If we just take the two shows hosted over the period by Cyril Hanouna, “Do not touch My TV” And “We walk on the head” on Europe1, we ultimately have 54% of the guests who are from the far-right bloc, so out of 26 guests you have half who are from the far-right bloc“, specifies Théo Verdier. Only the communist Léon Deffontaines represents the left in these broadcasts.
An interview to be found on video: