Page - 138 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Souley Hassane | Mainstream Media vs. Ethnic Minority Media 138 associative groups (81%), schools (72%), the HALDE5 (68%), the law (59%), religious leaders (57%), the media (48%), the state (46%), the police (37%), businesses (35%), and politicians (29%) (op.cit., p. 21). These percentages reflect the way in which blacks are covered in the media and the derisive statements produced in the media and by politicians. For some time now, mainstream media have been staging xenophobic acts in order to enhance their own profits. The most marked acts of discrimination as revealed by the survey were insults and acts expressing disdain and hatred. Statements made by Pascal Sevran, Alain Finkelkraut, Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, Claude Imbert, Michel Houlebecq, Maurice Dantec, Marc-Olivier Fogiel, Georges Frêche, and Nicolas Sarkozy will not easily be forgotten. Civil rights groups and schools are seen in a more positive light than such celebrities and seem to function as forces promoting social integration in France. 4. Conclusion The question of integration is recurrent in French political debate and has repeatedly appeared in political and media campaigns over the last 30 years. For certain parties of the right and the extreme right, the issue of integration guarantees their influence with their proposals against laws regarding discrimination, racism, and social cohesion and with their stance against the thousands of organizations that fight xenophobia. The last elections brought immigration to light once again through debates on a concept of ‘national identity’. As a result, politicians were perceived as the sole generators of public discourse on integration and immigration. In fact, the major media participate in propagandizing and amplifying the issue, presenting the immigrant as more of a problem than as part of a solution. Since the very first contemporary immigrations, language expressing fear and suspicion has abounded in media reports (Hubsher 2005, p. 478). The French suburbs, residence of economi- cally underprivileged groups, are described as lawless and violent, and as “the abandoned territories of the Republic”. Those subjected to this media reporting are allocated no right to response. Until the dawning of the Internet, French people of foreign origin were without any substantial source of information. But the creation of Internet sites, of informative, feminist and general magazines, and of radio stations has transformed the relationship between society and the media. 5 Haute autorité de lutte contre les discriminations (HALDE – High Authority in the Fight Against Discrimination).