Page - 132 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Souley Hassane | Mainstream Media vs. Ethnic Minority Media 132 say to a trainer: ‘You couldn’t find a white player?’ But it would be stupid, he just takes the best. Afrikara answers him in these terms (ibid.): “The presence of blacks and their representation in current French society? He reduces them to music and soccer. Another brilliant mind of our times!” Eric Zemmour, a columnist, affirms in the broadcast “Ca se dispute (Leave no stone unturned)” of I-Télé on May 12, 2006: “It’s colonization that put a stop to slavery! I’m tired of hearing of people talking about France being guilty of a crime against humanity because it used slaves. First of all, that’s wrong – there were never any slaves on French territory.” On the channel Paris première, March 26, 2006, on the broadcast “93 Faubourg Saint-Honoré”, he had already said: “Black slavery was invented by blacks. In Africa, they were the ones selling other blacks, because there is no such thing as black brotherhood – it doesn’t exist.” But the pinnacle of such racist media utterances was reached when Pascal Sevran, the television host, wrote in his book, Le privilege des jonquilles (Sevran 2007, p. 207): “The black prick is responsible for the famine in Africa.” When asked to clarify his stance by Nice Matin, he insisted, “It’s the truth! Africa is finishing itself off with all those children born with parents who have nothing to feed them. I’m not the only one to say it. We should sterilize half the pla- net.” The journalist also had much to say in his book about the case of Niger, where authorities have commenced with prosecuting the crime of defamation of a people. Afrikara’s response was as follows (Da Siva/Elinga 2007): France has recently become a textbook case in terms of the democratization of racist discourse and of concrete practices translating into the inferiorization of blacks in all acts of daily life. The political theater of anti-immigration or housing expulsions have, for about a decade now, displayed and socialized an image of a population who can take the most implacable violence from politics and police, without soliciting any kind of reprobation or ethic consideration. This is physical violence in the name of the fight against clandestine immigration, and verbal violence paired with public insult on prime time media in front of giant audiences. The same tone is, however, not to be perceived in the principal mainstream media, which empathize with the TV host. “Is Pascal Sevran racist?” (Le Figaro. December 7, 2007), “The TV host Pascal Sevran accused of promoting racism and of praising eugenics” (Le Monde, December 6, 2006), “Pascal Sevran attacked for inciting racial hatred” (Libération, December 13, 2006). None of these headlines actually accuse the TV host. Instead, they either simply state a