In recent weeks, there is a name that comes up in all the media: that of Magali Berdah, founder of Shauna Events and agent of many influencers from reality TV. Accused of scams by rapper Booba, the businesswoman is at the center of numerous journalistic investigations, Further Investigation on France 2 (which had a great impact on social networks) on the front page of the newspaper Release last July. Gradually, in recent years, mainstream media have begun to take an interest in reality TV and its influence, both online and offline. Influencers from reality TV seem to be at the center of media concerns, widely denounced for certain practices, ranging from CPF (Personal Training Account) scams to the sale of useless or even dangerous products.
For Constance Vilanova, freelance journalist and specialist in the world of reality TV, the interest of the general media for this environment has changed over the years: “When the loft appeared in the early 2000s, it was observed as an unknown object by the majority of journalists, and there were front pages about this new, unpublished program. After the loft, the media have stopped talking about reality TV, and there have been very few studies on this subject”. In fact, for a long time, the world of reality TV was observed only by those who gravitated to it. “Apart from a few independent journalists, subjects relating to the world of reality TV were only covered by specialized bloggers and the tabloid press, which are also part of this economic ecosystem,” explains Khedidja Zerouali, journalist at Mediapart’s social division. , which has signed several surveys on this environment, including latest on training scams promoted by certain influencers from reality TV.
“It was a media blind spot for years”
Watched by hundreds of thousands of viewers, especially teenagers, reality shows like Angels Where The people of Marseilles have been part of popular culture since the 2010s. Even if their audiences have been declining for a few seasons, they remain widely watched and commented on on social networks, where excerpts are taken up. “There is a huge disregard in the media for these programs and for these characters when they are part of mass culture. It was a media blind spot for years,” notes Constance Vilanova. A blind spot that affects large or small newsrooms, and which can be explained by the composition of the newsrooms: journalists mainly come from the same social background, from the same major schools recognized by the profession. “We are in a very closed sociological and professional bubble. Beyond reality TV, it’s all popular culture that is not covered by the media, everything that is considered unsuitable for investigation or journalism because of our own biases,” adds Khedidja Zerouali.
This contempt of established journalists for the world of reality TV has left the field open to the tabloid press and specialized bloggers, the only ones to seize the subject, transforming the events of this environment into soap operas. “The teenagers or the spectators who watched these programs only had that as a reading grid, all the scandals were analyzed as clashes” notes Constance Vilanova. “For example, on gender-based and sexual violence, the people who spoke about it were not equipped enough to analyze the mechanisms of control, the violence, the silence of the victims, etc. she adds. Added to these media blinkers is the fact that influence marketing is a “recent ecosystem” emphasizes Khedidja Zerouali.
Media treatment still steeped in sexism
Last July, the newspaper Release made its headlines on the complaints launched by Booba against the agency of influencers of Magali Berdah, Shauna Events for “misleading commercial practices”. In a long interview with the newspaper, the rapper prided himself on wanting to bring down those he calls “influencers”. At the beginning of September, it was the turn of the show Further Investigation to offer a program entitled “Scams, money and politics: the real business of influencers”. Media stories around reality TV and its influencers now seem to revolve almost exclusively around the issue of scams. “It’s very good to talk about scams, but what is problematic is to present Booba as a whistleblower when there are real whistleblowers who have been talking about it for years, notes Constance. Vilanova. But it’s a very good gateway into that environment. For Khedidja Zerouali, influencers from reality TV are part of gigantic economic systems that urgently need to be investigated.
However, when we look in detail at the media’s treatment of reality TV, we see that the gaze of journalists remains steeped in a thinly veiled misogyny. Thus, in the Further Investigation aired in early September, there is a lot of focus on women, commenting on the physique of those who have made a marketing product out of their bodies. “It’s easy to hit these candidates, to pass them off as stupid. As the author Valérie Rey-Robert explains, we forget where these women come from, what they go through on these shoots, the harassment they suffer. We must add depth to the reflection. I think that studying them in the media is very interesting, it’s a swarm of subjects because they embody personalities that are followed by millions of young people” supports Constance Vilanova. Because if the world of reality TV remains imbued with classism, racism and a high degree of sexism, it deserves to be looked at with the same seriousness as on other subjects, especially since it has an impact on the youngest and the working classes. “The model of society promoted by reality TV is catastrophic. As a journalist, I have to study it as seriously as other cultural productions. But we don’t do it with contempt: we are critics of this environment, we support our criticisms with facts, and not with morals ”explains Khedidja Zerouali.
Journalistic treatment at influencer level
Are we witnessing a shift in the way we treat reality TV and its candidates? “The newsrooms are getting younger and we have younger journalists who impose their reading grids, and manage to do new subjects” explains Constance Vilanova. Carried by younger journalists, sometimes independent, often women, the question of gender-based and sexual violence on set, cosmetic surgery, scams or dropshipping enter the newsrooms of the general media. “There are still efforts to be made. The public is tired of seeing reality TV contestants and influencers presented as being stupid. That’s not what interests us, but to understand how they built an empire, why that makes young people dream. We can stop sexist biases, it’s been 10 years since we said that Nabilla is stupid, we can move on ” pleads Constance Vilanova.
And this requires a way of working that does not talk about influencers, but makes them talk. “You can’t write seriously without talking to influencers or agents. We don’t have to consider that people are too dumb to be questioned, we question everyone,” continues Khedidja Zerouali. But according to her, it is difficult to imagine that there are positions granted to reality TV in the newsrooms. “Inflation is galloping, consumer prices are exploding, we are preparing for a major economic and social crisis… That the world of reality TV is scrutinized by researchers, public authorities, journalists, that’s good, but it there are also other subjects that deserve attention, ”argues the journalist to Médiapart, where the social center has only three journalists. “We are directed in relation to the general interest, and not to marketing or clicks,” she adds. Especially since with their thousands or even millions of subscribers, influencers from reality TV continue to have a very visible presence in the lives of adolescents and young adults.