On December 8 and 9, CHEC listeners were welcomed at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique, then at Agence France Presse (AFP) to understand the changes taking place in the French media landscape, and more broadly, in the audiovisual sector. Two days of intense debate.

 

Prendre connaissance du 4ème module de la Session 22-23 du CHEC.pdf

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Premier jour : adaptation aux changements de fond et invention de nouveaux modes d’action

A la Maison de la Radio et de la Musique, dans le Foyer F nouvellement rénové, Xavier Domino, Secrétaire général de Radio France, a introduit les travaux par une présentation de Radio France, dont l’offre diverse et cohérente s’appuie sur 6 antennes nationales et 44 stations locales. L’établissement a pour mission de servir tous les usagers et adapte donc son périmètre pour répondre au mieux à leurs attentes diversifiées : c’est ainsi qu’il a créé sa plateforme gratuite pour investir l’espace numérique et mettre sa production de contenu foisonnante à la disposition du plus grand nombre. Cette évolution s’est traduite aussi dans celle des métiers devant intégrer cette part numérique.

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Then Nathalie Sonnac, specialist in media and digital economics, professor at Université Paris 2-Panthéon-Assas and former member of the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA, now ARCOM), characterized the new world of media in terms of democratic and sovereignty issues. Indeed, while the fields of entertainment and information are monopolized by the hegemonic weight of GAFAM productions, the French landscape is difficult to reconstruct. Faced with much lower financial resources than these external players, traditional national players also do not want to participate in the massive data collection that underpins this new economy. The market is moving towards digital (62% of French people get information online, with higher rates for the youngest), local journalism is declining, and enclosing bubbles are developing, especially on social networks, which negatively impacts electoral participation and democratic life.

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The links between media concentration and the guarantee of pluralism of information were the subject of the next round table attended by Éric Valmir, journalist and Secretary General of Information of Radio France; Sylvie Clément-Cuzin, Inspector General of Cultural Affairs, co-author of the IGAC/IGF report on media concentration in the digital age; and Sylvie Robert, Senator, Vice-Chair of the Senate Commission of Inquiry on Media Concentration in 2021.

All report on the decline in citizens' trust in institutions, and therefore the need to provide reliable information to citizens. This is what Radio France undertakes every day, as with its programme ‘Le Tournant’, which trains journalists on current issues such as climate change, Also emerging is the crucial importance of critical media literacy and European-wide action to move in this direction.

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In the afternoon, after a brief visit to the information studios, the Secretary General of the Direction de la musique et de la création, Denis Bretin, took the group to visit the auditorium and studio 104 before a time of exchange. The House is working to rejuvenate audiences through tariff offers and a digital familiarization (all concerts are recorded and broadcast on air), so that a diverse audience attends symphonic concerts, in the auditorium or off-walls.

While the digital revolution has completely reshaped the information market, it has also disrupted the use of time. Laurent Frisch, Digital Director of Radio France, recalled that in the face of the crisis of traditional media, Radio France has positioned itself strongly on the digital, which allows delineation and thus adapts better to the rhythms of life of citizens. The emphasis has therefore been on producing podcasts, even for younger children. Today, Radio France accounts for about 50% of the country’s listening to podcasts.

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Marc-Olivier Sebbag, General Delegate of the Fédération Nationale des Cinémas Français (FNCC) and the listener of the session, showed how the same phenomena played out in the audiovisual field. We entered the era of series. They disrupted cultural practices by building a new relationship to time and formats.

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Finally, Ariel Kyrou, journalist, writer, essayist, author of “In the Imaginations of the Future” closed the day by wondering about the place of the imaginary to think about the future, to seek another type of world, like “Men with holes letting the world pass through [us]', shift our gaze with works of fiction and build new stories of our living together.

The auditors then met in working groups to make progress on their respective reports.

Second Day at AFP, at the heart of the information factory

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On Friday morning, Fabrice Fries, AFP President and CEO, opened the day with a view to the major challenges of an international news agency in a troubled geopolitical context. AFP is one of the world’s largest newsrooms and one of the world’s largest photographers' agencies, with 2,500 employees, including 1,700 journalists. A major player in global information, working in 6 languages, the institution’s mission is to cover everything, with complete and impartial information. Thanks to its staff deployed in a large number of countries, it benefits from an information approach resulting from various points of view. Faced with changes in usage, especially for young people, AFP has also rethought its formats, focusing more on multimedia reports, where text serves as a caption on the image, when the image used to be a simple illustration of the text.

We would like to thank Boris Bachorz, AFP’s Brand and Communication Director, and Vincent Burgaud, AFP’s Communications Officer, for their help in preparing this day.

The listeners then watched a video of AFP’s international editorial conference, bringing together different offices around the world to discuss the most important issues of the day.

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Subsequently, three professionals from the agency presented their professions in order to provide an overview of the time-series of information as it is handled at AFP. First, Julie Charpentrat, Assistant Editor-in-Chief Digital Investigation, recalled the urgency of disseminating accurate information through digital investigation. In fact, AFP is the world’s largest player in the fight against disinformation, and works in collaboration with network platforms, in 24 targeted languages, to counter disinformation through verification articles, especially focused on viral images. Tireless work to bring back transparency against mistrust.

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Then, Sophie Huet, AFP’s central editor, explained the ins and outs of field coverage in crisis areas. Taking the example of Ukraine, she presented ways to avoid endangering sources, pitfalls of misinformation and pressure from the authorities.

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Ivan Couronne, deputy head of the Planet Pole, explained the internal reorganization of AFP to better cover climate issues, through a single block intended to provoke cross-cutting dialogues and produce more synergies to understand this major issue. 

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Then Stéphane Arnaud, editor-in-chief of photography for AFP, returned to the striking press photographs this year, recalling their delicate nature in view of the narrative strength of the images that could be a source of tension.

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Following them, Dorian Bardavid, head of the «consumer» products line office, in the digital department of the Ministry of Culture and Étienne Mineur, designer, publisher at Éditions Volumiques and teacher, have discussed together the impressive changes brought to image creation by artificial intelligence. With many examples, from a false Cartier-Bresson exhibition to the creation of comics in record time, they showed how the field of creation was very strongly affected by the meteoric transformations of artificial intelligence.

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Then Abla Benmiloud-Faucher, head of the strategy, prospective and digital mission at the Centre des monuments nationaux, auditor of the session, Vincent Poussou, director of audiences and digital, Reunion of national museums/Grand Palais and Romain Delassus, Head of Digital Services at the Ministry of Culture, focused on presenting virtual reality and immersion in the service of culture: the first two by the concrete achievements of their institutions the third by the strategy of accompaniment and support that the ministry puts in place for them.

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This module finally ended with the conference ‘Ethics and Digital’ by Jean-Gabriel Ganascia, an academic, specialist in artificial intelligence, President of the CHEC steering committee (last published book: Virtual servitudes). To find our bearings in the digital space, he suggests that we rely on a digital wind rose, whose cardinal points would be ‘alive’, ‘out of life’, ‘online’, or ‘offline’ depending on our presence and our traces on the web.

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The auditors of the 2022-2023 Session will meet in January for a module dedicated to Creation.