On April 24, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will go into the presidential runoff. And it could be very close, election researchers say. This would give a politician on the extreme right a real chance to govern France for the first time. In the second ballot, she can count on the votes from the camp of the defeated candidate Éric Zemmour, who is even further to the right and, together with Le Pen, set the themes of the election campaign – also in the media.
The election campaign was dominated by anti-immigration and anti-immigrant slurs, warnings of an alleged threat to national security and an alleged loss of French identity. Played many times, for example, on CNews. The TV station belongs to the media group of industrialist Vincent Bolloré. One of the richest men in France, he now also owns Canal+, the successful radio station Europe 1 and magazines such as Gala and Paris Match. He gives far-right politicians a lot of space in his publications.
But even large newspapers such as Le Figaro and public broadcasters are criticized for not offering enough resistance to racist ideologies and threat narratives.