FRENCH RIOTS IN AMERICAN MEDIA

Articles :

Ø Unrest reaches French capital, CCN.com, 5 novembre 2005.

Ø Seventh night of riots in France, Fox News.com, 3 novembre 2005.

Ø Juniors : les émeutes en France toujours en Une de la presse américaine, Associated Press (AFP) dispatch, 5 novembre 2005.

INTRODUCTION

Since November 4, French riots to the surprise of many, in the headlines of the U.S press.

In the articles chosen in this presentation, the media are the television News channels. CNN is a famous live information channel which broadcasts Breaking News stories 24/7. This American channel is reputed for seeking the sensational, but it is more serious and independent from the government than Fox News, a neo-conservative channel which is close to the Bush Administration and known to be more partisan. What is more, since the beginning of America’s attack on Iraq, Fox news has become known as the No.1 French-bashing channel.

The Associated Press (AP) is an American press agency which provides information to media all over the world. The role of this media is to provide raw information without interpretation or subjectivity.

It is interesting to compare the subjective interpretations made by American media in the treatment of the riots in France and/with the assessment by the Associated Press of the great interest which those events represent for the American press.

A question might be raised concerning a distortion in the treatment of this information.

ANALYSIS AND CRITICIS

The first article deals with the unrest which has hit Paris, the symbol of beauty, luxury and elegance. This article is somewhat alarmist. It depicts the spreading of the riots and the inroads of the “arson rampage” into the capital. The vocabulary is violent. There are 4 parts : an introduction with the detail of the damage. The 3 other parts are commentaries about and interpretations of these events : poverty, unemployment, discrimination ; “quite hard to combat” ; plus, a warning for tourists. But from the beginning the accent is placed on the ethnic character of the riots : “Mediterranean resort communities”, “two teenagers—both of African descent”. And farther on : “communities with large immigrant and Muslim populations”. But on CNN, it is not said to be the religious question which caused these troubles, but the fact that these communities of immigrants and their descendants are more fragile than the rest of the population. They use the strong expression : “Immigrant and Muslim populations who have been plagued by poverty, unemployment and alleged discrimination”.

There is a great exaggeration of the facts, the young are compared to an organised militia.

The second article deals with the same subject : the riots. The tone is more critical towards the French government, and more alarmist in reaction to the events. Young protestors are compared with “gangs”. The article gives an explanation for these riots : it is the division “between big cities and their poor suburbs and frustrations simmering (…), heavily populated by North African and Muslim immigrants and their French-born children who struggle with high unemployment, crime and poverty”. So, for some American media, the instigators of these troubles are Muslims or immigrants. For them, the problem is a question of racial and/or religious communities. It explains again : “The unrest has laid bare France’s failure to fully integrate its millions of immigrants, many of whom are trapped in the poverty and grinding unemployment of low-cost, sometimes decrepit, suburban housing projects sometimes controlled by gangs dealing drugs and stolen goods”. They almost excuse them and they try to find explanations for their acts. The government appeared guilty.

Both articles discuss the shocking words pronounced by the Interior ministry : the stigmatisation of the troublemakers as “scum”, and his will “to clean out” suburbs. We can remark that the channel employs the term of “troublemakers” which is neutral and without prejudice.

The third article tackles the treatment of these events in the American press. It is a neutral article which exposes facts and examples. It reports the expression used in the TV news : “Paris burns”. For the American press, these are the worst events which have taken place in France for 10 years. And these riots are said to have paralysed the government. It also discusses the warnings issued by Russia and the US to avoid visiting France during this period as a country in war.

COMMENTARY

It is an exaggeration to equate the French riots with the Battle of Tours, where in 732 French Christians beat back the Muslim invasion of Europe (American TV News on Fox News). The rioters are motivated by a variety of grievances which say a lot more about French governance than about Islam or ethnic motivations. In these articles, we can observe the movement of exaggeration engaged in these articles. There are falsehoods, mistakes, like in the second article which writes “Caulnay-sous_bois” instead Aulnay. (The same channel had placed the cities on a map in the wrong places).

Even if they mostly received their basic information from the Associated Press, their analysis is different. They crystallize the Muslim community and immigrants through these riots, whereas this is first and foremost a social problem. It is shocking to see this kind of thinking with its binary division of society according to its racial origins.

But, on the other hand, it might be interesting to listen to these interpretations because, even as imperfect witnesses, they can help understand a part of the problem and they are an antidote to French hypocrisy, analysing that in relation to the thorny issue of immigration and integration. Because in France, everybody is French, there is no study about the evolution of integration, its failures or its successes. But in reality, discrimination and frustration are largely in evidence, and in order to fight the latter the government has to affront the problem directly. The events in the suburbs should be the opportunity to discuss that.

We understand that the American Press is fascinated by these events, but unfortunately there is also a kind of bitterness and revenge hidden behind the spin they give to the latest news. There is also an indictment of France, its philosophy, and its refusal of Iraq’s intervention. But they may have taught us something more about the real situation because of their uncompromising articles written in reaction to France’s immigration problems.

Unrest reaches French capital

Riots, arson take new turn, spreads across country

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Protesters in France expanded their arson rampage into the capital city of Paris and along Mediterranean resort communities as the nation's Interior Ministry predicted the violence would grow by daybreak Sunday.

Police helicopters flew over Paris and other locations in an effort to identify and stop the vandals, French radio said.

The latest violence, sparked by the deaths of two teenagers in suburban Paris, spread west to the Normandy region and south to the Mediterranean. In the resort cities of Cannes and Nice, where arson was reported.

By early Sunday, more than 900 cars had been burned, 193 people detained and several police officers and firefighters injured after a 10th night of rioting across France, according to national police spokesman Patrick Hamon.

Thirteen cars were torched in Paris, including several in the Place de la Republique in the central city.

In the Normandy city of Evreux, five police officers and three firefighters were injured when two schools, a post office, a shopping center and 50 cars were burned, Hamon said. A child care center was burned in Lille in northern France.

Two schools in Grigny, south of Paris, were set ablaze and firefighters responded to 30 reports of arson in Toulouse, in southern France, the Interior Ministry said. Several cars were on fire and several trash cans were burning outside public buildings.

A cultural center in the central city of Nantes was destroyed by fire, and a youth hostel burned in Paris, the ministry said. (Watch French teens explain why they're angry -- 2:08)

The spreading violence has shocked national leaders and community residents into action as the French prime minister held special meetings Saturday and concerned citizens participated in a demonstration march.

For 10 days police, government and community leaders have been struggling to restore order, and debating how to quell the unrest that began October 27 in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

Locals blamed police for the electrocution deaths of two teenagers -- both of African descent -- who climbed a fence surrounding a power station while apparently running from police.

Poverty, unemployment, discrimination

The vandalism has spread to around 20 communities with large immigrant and Muslim populations who've been plagued by poverty, unemployment and alleged discrimination. In some areas, unemployment is 25 percent.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met with community leaders and members of his Cabinet Saturday to address the situation.

Mediators and religious leaders are talking to the youths in an effort to stop the violence. More than 2,000 vehicles have been torched in the violence, and hundreds or people arrested. Some police officers, paramedics and journalists have been injured.

The rioting prompted warnings from the U.S. and British governments for visitors to be aware of the situation and avoid the affected areas.

As many as 3,000 people took part in a silent march Saturday morning, speaking out against the rioting and its root causes, state radio reported.

'Quite hard to combat'

Hamon told The Associated Press that arsonists were moving beyond their heavily policed neighborhoods to less protected areas.

"They are very mobile, in cars or scooters. ... It is quite hard to combat," Hamon told AP. "Most are young, very young, we have even seen young minors."

There appeared to be no coordination between separate groups in different areas, Hamon told AP. But within gangs, youths are communicating by cell phones or e-mails. "They organize themselves, arrange meetings, some prepare the Molotov cocktails."

In quiet Acheres, west of Paris, arsonists burned a nursery school, where part of the roof caved in, and about a dozen cars in four attacks that the mayor said seemed "perfectly organized," AP reported.

Children's photos clung to the blackened walls, and melted plastic toys littered the floor, AP reported. Mayor Alain Outreman tried to cool tempers and rejected demands that militias be formed or that the army be deployed. "We are not going to start militias," he said. "You would have to be everywhere."

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the government is unanimous in its determination to end the violence and address the problems.

"Once this crisis is overcome and calm is restored, each must also understand that there's also a certain feeling of injustice in some neighborhoods," Sarkozy said Saturday, according to a translation from Reuters News Agency. "I have thought this for a long time, and said it as well."

There have been calls by the Green Party and the Communist Party for Sarkozy to resign, after he called the rioters "scum" earlier in the week -- language that served only to inflame the vandalism.

Warning for tourists

The U.S. Embassy in Paris has issued a public announcement warning American travelers about the rioting.

"Although the riots have occurred in areas not normally frequented by U.S. tourists, travelers should be aware that train travel from the Charles de Gaulle Airport to the city center may be disrupted at times, as it passes near the affected area," according to the announcement, dated Friday.

"Travelers could rely instead on airport buses or taxis to downtown Paris. Americans should avoid the affected areas."

CNN's Chris Burns and Hayat Mongodin contributed to this report

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/05/france.riots

www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/05/france.riots/

Seventh Night of Riots in France

Thursday, November 03, 2005

CAULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France — France's government faced mounting pressure Thursday as suburban unrest spread, with youths setting fire to a car dealership and public buses in battles with riot police, who reportedly came under gunfire.

Youths rampaged for a seventh straight night, undeterred by the presence of armed riot police. Acts ranging from clashing with police to torching vehicles were reported in at least 10 Paris-region towns.

The riots have highlighted the division between France's big cities and their poor suburbs and frustrations simmering in housing projects to the north and northeast of Paris, heavily populated by North African and Muslim immigrants and their French-born children who struggle with high unemployment, crime and poverty.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called a series of emergency meetings with government officials throughout the day Thursday, including one with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been accused of inflaming the crisis with his tough talk and police tactics. Sarkozy has called troublemakers "scum" and vowed to "clean out" troubled suburbs.

Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo said the government had to react "firmly" but added that France must also acknowledge its failure to have dealt with anger simmering in poor suburbs for decades.

"We cannot hide the truth: that for 30 years we have not done enough," he told France-2 television.

In the tough northeastern suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, gangs of youths torched a Renault car dealership late Wednesday and incinerated at least a dozen cars, a supermarket and a local gymnasium.

In nearby La Courneuve, police said two live bullets were fired at them, France-Info radio reported. No officers were injured.

Bands of youths forced a team of France-2 television reporters out of their car in the suburb of Le Blanc Mesnil, then flipped the vehicle and set it on fire.

The unrest has laid bare France's failure to fully integrate its millions of immigrants, many of whom are trapped in the poverty and grinding unemployment of low-cost, sometimes decrepit, suburban housing projects sometimes controlled by gangs dealing drugs and stolen goods — not police.

The rioting began Oct. 27 in the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois after the accidental deaths of the two teenagers electrocuted when they hid in a power substation because they thought police were chasing them. Officials have said police were not pursuing the boys.

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174409,00.html -

WASHINGTON, 5 nov 2005 (AFP) 16:42

Juniors : Les émeutes en France toujours en Une de la presse américaine

Les émeutes dans les banlieues françaises font la Une samedi pour le deuxième jour consécutif de la presse américaine avec des commentaires stigmatisant l'impuissance du gouvernement français face à ces jeunes en colère.

Rappelant que ces émeutes sont les plus graves survenues en France depuis une dizaine d'années, la presse américaine souligne la "paralysie" du gouvernement français.

"Ces émeutes ont paralysé le gouvernement (...) Jacques Chirac s'est adressé publiquement au pays seulement à travers un communiqué lu par son porte-parole et appelant au calme", écrit le Washington Post, ajoutant que les émeutes se sont étendues depuis à d'autres banlieues de villes en France.

Le Washington Times (conservateur) relève que les appels au calme du président Chirac "n'ont pas été écoutés".

Avec une photo d'une voiture incendiée en Une, le New York Times (centre-gauche) écrit que les affrontements s'intensifient et ont isolé le ministre de l'Intérieur Nicolas Sarkozy.

Le quotidien new-yorkais rappelle les termes employés par M. Sarkozy --"racaille" et "nettoyage des banlieues"-- et souligne que certains le blâment d'avoir attisé la violence.

"La France lutte depuis des années devant une colère de plus en plus exprimée des jeunes issus de la deuxième ou troisième génération d'immigrés d'Afrique du nord qui doivent faire face au chômage et à la marginalisation", relève le quotidien.

Les grandes chaînes de télévision américaines retransmettent depuis jeudi soir les images des émeutes la nuit et des voitures qui flambent. "Paris brûle", annonçait ABC jeudi soir.

Les journaux américains ont aussi souligné que les Etats-Unis et la Russie ont mis en garde leur citoyens en visite en France leur demandant d'éviter les zones d'émeutes.