"Color Blind"

" The media must do more to reflect the reality of France today"- Jacques Chirac in a special address to France during the height of the riots in 2005


Reading this article by Jeremy Harding, I could only think of one thing; Hurricane Katrina. The stories show a similarity with the reporting of a tragedy while simultaneously ignoring the minority faces behind the events . The French Riots were spawned mainly by people of color. The French media reported on the riots themselves but failed to report on the causes of the riots and the oppression of the Northern African and Sub-Saharan migrants.

Azouz Begag says the problem is with French television and that it doesn't correctly portray the demographics in France, it fails to reflect its diversity and thus does not portray a correct reality. He does say, however, that it has gotten better ever since the CSA "is now required to ensure that the networks 'reflect the diversity of French society.' "

University of Paris Sociologist Marie- France Malong found this problem to be true when she did a study of French television at the request of the CSA. She summed up her findings like this, " “the visible minorities are invisible people {on television}"
Although she says the integration of more minority faces on TV is a step towards progress in the French media, she also says that "Merely increasing the quantity of black faces on television is not going to solve what she sees as a 'fundamental qualitative problem.' ”

I think that France is not alone in their lack of minorities in mainstream media or their lack of "why" reporting instead of just "how" reporting, i.e. only reporting on an event or story but not reporting on the issues behind the event or story. This was seen in the reporting of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. media. The press covered the destruction and devastation of people's property and belongings well but failed to report on the social implications of the aftermath.

I believe that ignoring the socioeconomic parts of stories has been an inherent part of the press and they have historically left that reporting and conversation to sociologists and historians writing books. The only way we can change that is to educate those going into the journalism field ( that's us!) of the problems of our profession and hope that with a new generation we can try to make the change.