Seite - 117 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

117 Souley Hassane Mainstream Media vs. Ethnic Minority Media: Integration in Crisis 1. Introduction For all segments of French society, the media are at the center of political, economic and cultural concerns. They are cultivated by politicians in their quest for power, while companies pursue them as a means of making money. The force of such pursuit is hardly surprising and is readily apparent in the concentration of the media in the hands of manufacturers and arms dealers. The collusion between politics and business is a major characteristic of our era. In France, any control over the media exercised by politicians and business- men has always been under scrutiny; however, the last presidential election (2007) did reveal a mutual corruption of sorts in the relations between the current president and some owners of French media. The Berlusconi media in Italy indicate a similar conflation. The business world is increasingly interested in the media because they provide opportunities to amass money and power, make and remake opinions with one sweep. Magnates enhance their existing economic power with the power to produce, diffuse or censor a program, an opinion or some information according to the principle of supply and demand. Eighty-five percent of the Socpresse Group, with its concentration on the written press, belongs to Serge Dassault, the famous manufacturer of cannons. Socpresse includes Le Figaro, L’Express, L’Expansion, etc. Hachette Filipacchi Médias has belonged to Lagardère since 2004. Worth 2.1 billion euros, he is the owner of, for example, Télé 7 jours, Paris Match, Elle, Nice-Matin, Choc, Public, and La Provence. In sum, Lagardère owns 200 press groups all over the world. The group Ouest-France is worth 953 million euros. Le Monde, the fourth major press syndicate, was worth 639 million euros in 2004 and controls Télérama, La Vie, Courier International, Le Monde des religions, Le Monde de l’Education, Midi Libre, Les cahiers du Cinéma. The Amaury group, with 25% owned by Lagardère, consists of Le Parisien and L’Equipe. The Hersant family runs the France Antilles group, owner of the free Paru Vendu, published in 240 editions. France Antilles is estimated to be worth 618 million euros. Prisma Presse, held by the German Bertelsmann corporation, controls Prima, and Femme Actuelle at a total of 567 million euros. Finally, Emap France, which publishes 28 titles, controls Télé-Poche, Téléstar, Biba, Max, and Science et Vie, among others, at a total of 437 million euros. Bouygues, the king of concrete