'Mass medias and their political role Essay\r'

'« Medias » comes from the latin « media » that figures all intend of communication ; much(prenominal) as printing twinge, piano tuner set, television, Internet.\r\n in that location has been a mediatic revolution in Europe, and specially en France, since the end of the XIX th century, which accompanied the comport of the Re macrocosm and its main political crisis, at is allowed the nerve of the creation notion. In June 29th, 1881, the Law on the emancipation of the Press allowed the liberty of bringion though remittal its limits such as the prohibition of defamation, against the press offences, incitements to racial hatred or attainment on different’s property and public security. This law permitted a greater involvement of the public opinion in major political crisis that happened in France since the end of the XIXth century, such as the following ones I am overtaking to present : the Dreyfus Affair, the Vichy France and the elections of June 2002.\ r\nThe Dreyfus Affair :\r\nThis political crisis illustrates the major routine of printing press. At that meter, the Jules ferry Laws had increased alphabetisation, so the press became much more accessible to move classes of society. More newspapers were printed and sold at a farthest cheaper price ; it was a democratisation of the press.\r\nAt the time of the Dreyfus Affair, there was a huge debate well-nigh secularism (â€Å"Laicité”), in which the press involved itself by expressing the public opinion. L’Humanité was more biased on a socialist point of view whereas La Croix belonged to the decently wing of the political life, though it is really with the Dreyfus shift that the politicisation took place.\r\nIn November 1rst, 1894, the far right-wing and antisemit newspaper La Libre Parole, criminated Captain Alfred Dreyfus, of jewish confession, of having betrayed France by universe a spy for Germany. Dreyfus was sentenced to death. yet the public opin ion was vehemently divided and represented through the press.There was the pro-Army, nationalists Anti-Dreyfusards and the pro-Republicans, likewise called Dreyfusards, who led a ferocious battle against the separate camp.\r\nThe term â€Å"intellectual” was created at that time to design journalists that committed themselves in the affair. For exemples : †Emile Zola, a naturalist writer, publishes in January 13th, 1898, his false letter/pamphlet â€Å"J’accuse” in L’Aurore, asking for more legal expert from the President, and so for Dreyfus’ commutation. It was the very first engagement of intellectuals in the press. †Jean Jaurés also demonstrated vigorously the innocence of Dreyfus in â€Å"Les preuves” published in La République.\r\nWe have then an example of a bipolarised press reflecting a bipolarised public opinion. The expression of various(a) voices greatly influenced the release and rehabilitation of Dreyfus in 1 906, only one year aft(prenominal) the victory of the secularism laws.\r\nWWII : The cut State or Vichy France :\r\nIn 1940, with the creation of the cut collaborating and antisemit State, there has been a significant division of medias : †The ordained press became marechalist (newspaper Je suis partout), proclaiming the need for collaboration, denouciations…; †A clandestine, banned press appeared (Libération) supporting the Resistance movement, in which people were advance to resist and to make life harder to the Occupier (sabotages, hidding illegal peole….). The press had a serious influence on the behaviours of the French State’s people. But radio too took a major role in this event : †wireless Paris was tightly controlled by the governement since the first public diffusion by the radio in 1921. †Radio Londres (written this way on the internet) on the contrary did not support the german telephone circuit so that it allowed De Gau lle to communicate with France and deliver his famous patois in June 18th, 1940, in which he encouraged French soldiers and workers to continue fighting against the collaborators and occupiers and the inhabitants of the French State to resist. Radio was also used a well as leaflets, to improve the organisation of resistant actions.\r\nThe Algerian fight (1954-1962) :\r\nAt the beginning of the war, the medias took great interest in this new political crisis that the regime had trouble in solving. â€Å"L’Algérie, c’est la France !” declares François Mitterand, then see of the Interior at the TV/Radio. In fact, after the loss of Indochina, France could not afford to regress Algeria as well according to many state members. But different opinions were debated over in the press mainly (France Soir, Le Parisien Libéré, Le Figaro…), by the quatern main radios representing round 38 millions of listeners, and the emerging scarcely still very el itist television. When the government sent the contigent in 1956, the jounalists were very much involved in illustrating the public opinion and the Ifop (an institute of survey and opinion survey) revealed that the polls mainly revealed a global wish for negociations sooner than fightings. But the government did not want to lose its credibility and censored the press, getting hold of close to (L’Express), and arrested nearly of the most vehement journalists. But some newspapers (L’Express and La France-Observateur) and authors (François Mauriac) denonced the political measures and repression to make it see-through to the public.\r\nThere was no more stability in the French government and DeGaulle was asked to come back to government agency in 1958, which he did, at the price that a new Constitution should be put into mightiness and that the fifth Republic shall be claimed. De Gaulle used as he did a few years before, the military unit of medias as a tool to c ommunicate with the French people, mainly using the ORTF, The Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française, which monopolised Frenc TV emissions and allowed him to put forward his knowledge opinion. This allowed him to avoid the putsch of the generals in April 1961 (they wanted to keep power in Alger in order to arrest the French Algeria against De Gaulle’s policy of negociations) by right off talking to the called in order to discourage them from parcel the generals. Finally Algeria became strong-minded with the Evian Accords in 1962.\r\nBut a few years later, with May 1968 it clearly appeared that the government controlled no longer the medias, which became more and more independent and were less used as an influencial tool of the government, only if only as a mean to express opinions or to give more information (ex : the presidential elections of June 2002, when the Internet, newspapers and televion altogether permitted a mobilisation of the voters against Jean-Marie Le Pen.)\r\n'