Report on the representation of French society in the media - Fiscal year 2022 and actions 2023
Introduction
In accordance with article 3-1 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, supplemented by law no. 2017-86 of January 27, 2017 on equality and citizenship, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication (Arcom) must report annually to Parliament on the actions of television and radio service editors in promoting social diversity and fighting agains discrimination, as well as on the actions it has taken.
To this end, since 2009, Arcom has produced an annual "barometer of the representation of French society", a measurement tool that provides a snapshot at a given moment of the representation of diversity on TV screens. The results of the barometer also enable broadcasters, on a regular basis, to have a precise idea of the image they project of society, and thus to better feed their airwaves with diverse people and programs representative of social diversity, without doing so on an event-driven basis.
At the same time, on November 10, 2009, Arcom adopted a resolution aimed at promoting the representation of diversity in French society in the programming of national free-to-air channels and Canal+. This requires editors' commitments to social diversity to be made to Arcom every year, and sets out how these commitments are to be monitored. In the light of any shortcomings observed, and in particular the results of the epresentation of French society barometer, editors' commitments may be strengthened.
This report begins with a review of Arcom's activities over the past year. It then looks ahead to the epresentation of French society on television in 2022, and compares this with the commitments made by editors' in this area. Finally, and for the first time this year, Arcom has drawn up initial findings on the epresentation of French society on on-demand audiovisual media services by contract (SMAD).
Perceived origin
People perceived as "non-white" were represented on television to the tune of 15% in 2022 (versus 14% in 2021). Their presence on all-news channels is still particularly low (9%).
Representation by attitude
The qualitative representation of people seen as "non-white" remains uneven, with roles of importance but with negative connotations. While they are more often seen in leading roles, they are overrepresented in roles with negative connotations and underrepresented in roles with positive connotations.
Representation of women
The proportion of women expressing themselves on-screen has barely increased over the years (39% of those perceived as expressing themselves on-screen). Their proportion is higher on the historical channels (42%).
Representation of disability
For the first time this year, the representation of people with disabilities reached the symbolic 1% mark, a minor increase compared to the number of people with disabilities in France. Disabled people are mostly represented in drama (71%).
Representation of overseas populations
The Arcom report notes the continuing sharp decline in the screen presence of people from the French overseas territories (1% of the total number of people indexed). They are over-represented in secondary roles with negative connotations.
Representation by socio-professional category
Higher socio-professional categories (CSP+) are over-represented (74% vs. 28% of the French population), with a strong presence on set news programmes, to the detriment of lower socio-professional categories (CSP-), represented at 11% (vs. 27% of the population), and the economically inactive (16% vs. 45% of the population).
Representation by age
The underrepresentation of older and younger people persists in 2022: the over-65s represent 6% of the indexed population, even though they constitute the largest age segment in France (21%). Youngersters account for only 10% (24% of the French population).
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The epresentation of French society on television and radio - Fiscal year 2022 and actions 2023
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