It is an annual meeting which worries, once again. The newspaper The cross publishes the 35th edition of its media barometer on Friday. An index of confidence and interest of the French which worries again this year. The journalist from The cross Gauthier Vaillant deciphers at the microphone of Philippe Vandel in Culture Media the results of this 2022 edition of the barometer. An edition very marked by the Covid-19 and by a sharply growing rupture between French youth and the so-called “traditional” media, namely radio, television and the written press.
Increased distrust of the Internet
Did things happen as the media told you? This is the question that has been used for 35 years to The cross to analyze French people’s trust in the media. For 2022, radio remains in the lead at 49%, a figure down 3 points. A first place that radio shares this year with the written press, up 1 point. Then comes television at 44% (+2 points). Internet continues to slump, at 24% confidence, down 4 points.
“The most important element is the fall in confidence in the Internet”, confirms on Europe 1 the journalist from The cross Gauthier Valiant. “She finds a level of defiance that we had not seen for several years. This is explained by the fact that the Internet is the place where false information and rumors spread. However, the Internet remains the source of most used information, so we are almost faced with a contradiction.” French interest in current affairs, another important indicator of the barometer of The cross, goes from 67% to 62%.
French people tired of Covid-19, Eric Zemmour and Lionel Messi
This loss of interest can be explained, in part, by the media’s over-exploitation of certain subjects. This 35th barometer reveals the top 3 subjects that the French believe they have heard too much about in the media. In first place, the Covid-19, followed by Eric Zemmour and the arrival of Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain.
“Does the weariness concern the media treatment or the Covid-19 itself?” Asks Gauthier Vaillant. “There is a retrospective judgment effect on these three subjects: the French find that they have heard too much about subjects that have had a lot of audiences. On the Covid-19, we talked about it as much because this news was very present.”
Sudden break of 18-24 year olds with the media
The interest of 18-24 year olds for news also fell, dropping in one year from 51% to 38%. A masterful fall of 13% which worries. “When we say that the younger generation is very aware, especially on ecology, we want to believe it,” recalls Gauthier Vaillant. “But there is a tendency to extend the mobilization of only one party to a whole generation. But this fall is also due to an effect of context. And also remains the unresolved question of media and information literacy The frequentation of traditional media is no longer self-evident for the younger generation.”