Seite - 136 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Souley Hassane | Mainstream Media vs. Ethnic Minority Media 136 France, and was a gesture contrasting with the discriminatory and racist phrases which had led to the opposition between mainstream and community media. France is a country of interesting paradoxes. Several elements converged at this juncture: business, common sense, and an emphasis on the sensational. Interestingly, this did not happen within the context of the public television network, but, as mentioned above, on the private channel TF1. The overwhelming media coverage of this event reveals the cultural schisms in this country and, at the same time, a surprising voluntarism. Several black journalists from cable stations, Christine Kelly of channel M6, Karine Lemarchand, Sylvère Cissé, and Arsène Valère, expressed their satisfaction and high expectations regarding Harry’s nomination. “I crossed my fingers and said: Let’s hope that everything goes right, that he doesn’t fall on his face, that he succeeds! Because I knew without a doubt that if he failed, they would have had no pity for him. Because the difficulties associated with our origins means we don’t have any margin of error. He absolutely has to succeed”, said Sylvère Cissé. This unexpected event provided a surface for projection and led to identification with the first French black anchor in the black communities of France – an emotional event involving a new sense of belonging. The excitement evoked by this event reflects how little headway had actually been made in terms of promoting equality and diversity in society. The African/Caribbean press warmly welcomed the news and did not fail to recall that the U.S.A. and Great Britain, in contrast to France, had been implementing corresponding policies for more than 30 years. Roselmarck himself commented (Roselmarck 2006): I unabashedly admit that my color had played a role. And I say all the better! It was time for a TV station to make this gesture. […] TF1 did this voluntarily; they took the lead and said: We’ll take him. We’ll put him on at 8 o’clock. I find this simply fantastic. If being black was one of the factors involved in their choosing me – I mean, I don’t have any problem at all with that in so far that I know that I have the capacity to fill the position. […] And it’s a positive signal. If it had been negative, I wouldn’t have taken it […]. Harry Roselmarck’s 8 o’clock news hour was perceived as a collective effort of the black community of France. The community apparently now had to demonstrate whether a black presenter of the evening news was acceptable. Afrikara organized a survey within the French black community that revealed that more than 85% of those interviewed supported the nomination. This figure reflects both the experience of minorities with negative represen- tations and their fear that failure could mean another wave of destructive and