The portrayal of the 2005 suburban riots in France in the French written press

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The portrayal of the 2005 suburban riots in

France in the French written press

A comparison of national newspaper Le Figaro and

newspaper of the Parisian region Le Parisien

Huffington Post (France)

Thesis by Daan van Boxtel

Master Media Studies, program Journalism

Student number: s2416972 Supervisor: Dr. F. Harbers

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1. Introduction

October and November 2005 was a dark period for France and the French people. During three weeks, major riots took place between the police and inhabitants of poor French suburbs which gripped the nation. This research analyses the framing of these events and it focuses on the coverage of the daily national French newspaper Le Figaro and the daily regional

newspaper of the Parisian region, Le Parisien. Before going into the theoretical and

methodological part, an introduction of the details of the case is a necessary starting point to understand what the whole situation was about.

The riots in 2005

Inhabitants of the poor suburbs of Paris and other big French cities have had several violent confrontations with the police in the past. Almost every year between 1995 and 2005 a riot took place somewhere in one of France’s poor neighbourhoods, in cities like Toulouse, Metz, Strasbourg and Yvelines. People living in these suburbs felt abandoned by French politicians and France in general. They started protesting to make themselves heard, which led to major clashes between them and the riot police. The most violent and intense conflict in French contemporary history occurred in October and November 2005 (Mucchielli and Le Goaziou, 2006 : 12).

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played a somewhat questionable role in not saving them, which together with the denial is one of the main reasons why the situation escalated in the following days.

What followed this event were three weeks of major violent confrontations between the anti-riot squad and people living in these suburbs. There were several reasons behind the anger of the rioters according to Mucchielli and Le Goaziou (2006). The direct cause was the dramatic death of the boys in Clichy-sous-Bois, but other explanations of this burst of

violence concerned their experiences in everyday life with racism, frequent police controls and leaving school without graduating. The biggest part of these rioters were male adolescents of African descent, who were between 16 and 21 years old (Mucchielli and Le Goaziou, 2006 : 22-23). They generally had a problematic relationship with the police. According to them, policemen came in large numbers to their neighbourhoods, provoked them verbally and multiplied controls (checking id’s e.g.) without any valid reason. Furthermore, lots of these boys dropped out of school and turned to delinquency. They felt abandoned in class. In their eyes, the teachers purposefully ignored instead of helping them, which they needed badly since their parents were not capable of supporting them on the educational level due to language problems or a lack of education. This incited anger towards the educational system and schools in general, the institution that in the eyes of the rioters took away the possibility to integrate in society. This might explain the high number of school buildings that was burned down during the period of riots. A couple of interviewed adolescents stated that experiencing racism in general, at work e.g., was also an important cause of feeling so much anger (Mucchielli and Le Goaziou, 2006 : 24-30).

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Shaping reality

In addition to politics, there are also other fields that shape society or construct certain ideas, based on which people construct an image of the world. People receive their news through mass media: newspapers, radio, television and more recently the Internet. From this perspective, the media might play a role in the public opinion.

Already in 1922, as one of the first media theorists Walter Lippmann argued the media’s ability to shape reality. According to him, people’s actions are not grounded in direct

knowledge, in experiences they have had themselves, but they are rooted in ‘pictures’ - in his terms - that were presented to them. As an example he gives the historical atlas that presented the earth as being flat. As a result, people will not dare to sail to the end of the earth because they are afraid of falling off (Lippmann, 1922: 15). Lippman subsequently contends that it is the press that is shaping the public’s opinion about the world out there. We rely on the pictures the media decide to give the public, similar to the way the atlas tells people not to go beyond the edge of the planet.

The media do the same for the conflicts they are involved in - the focus of this research - providing images and disseminating ideas. It is not merely reporting a neutral story what the media do, the implications of their choices to frame in a specific way are much more far-reaching (Cottle, 2006: 8-9).

“The media, as we shall see, are capable of enacting and performing conflicts as well as reporting and representing them; that is to say, they are actively ‘doing something’ over and above disseminating ideas, images and information. The media’s relationship to conflict, therefore, is often not best thought of in terms of ‘reflection’ or even ‘representation’ given its more active performative involvement and

constitutive role within them” (Cottle, 2006: 9).

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established flows of ‘top-down’ communication and facilitating new political forms of organisation and expression” (Cottle, 2006: 53).

This thesis does not aim to explain the influence the Internet has had during the 2005 riots on the public or the way in which it possibly provided a dissenting opinion. Besides, the big involvement of the public came after the 2005 riots with the rise of social media like

Facebook and Twitter. These platforms make it very easy and accessible to reflect an opinion and with that the influence of traditional media is possibly decreasing. At least, it frees the way for yet another big player in the media field that reaches to people and makes it possible for the public to express itself today. Anyhow, this is an element this study leaves out of consideration. The focus will be on traditional media and in this case only on newspapers.

Professional culture and socialization

The next step, before diving into the framing process and its characteristics, is to understand why specific events, like the 2005 riots, make their way into the news circulation. And even more interesting is to get an inside in the selection procedure within the subject of for instance the social upheaval in France. Why is one particular confrontation between the police and a group of adolescents covered by a medium and the conflict that occurred the next day not?

How media organizations decide which events are selected, as well as how to present the story, is in the first place determined by the professional values of journalism. These are taught through a process that is called socialisation. This is the fact of learning on the job and experiencing what is appreciated and what not, as Breed (1955) explains. In the learning of a professional attitude, objectivity is an important element in this professionalism. It ensures that journalists separate facts from values and that they try to write a story in which all sides are reflected. Specifically in political controversies this is of importance (Schudson, 2001: 150). Thus, in short a journalist needs to present an accurate and neutral story to prevent it from being one-sided.

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Gans (1979: 79) adds an exterior influence in which viewpoints presented by political actors, interest groups or other authorities are adopted by journalists and presented to the public. In addition, the journalists’ work is influenced by personal circumstances. We are all raised with a certain set of norms and values in life and this background will always have its influence on the things we do in our daily life. Shoemaker and Reese (1996: 83) and Gans (1979) claim that personal values, attitudes and beliefs play a role in the news selection process and the way in which it is reported. However, the policy and the professional values of journalism which are learnt by socialisation, try to suppress the personal component. Thus, the fact of being socialised means that you have become a professional as a journalist and that you adhere to the direction or policy your employer wants you to. The personal values and influences are still there but the journalist has to make sure that these do not play a part in his daily activities as a journalist.

Framing

The elements that play a role in the events that receive coverage in the news are depicted in the previous paragraph, thus the following step is to look at the way these events are covered. The process, which is chosen intentionally or unintentionally, to present a story is called: framing. Frames have been defined as: “principles of selection, emphasis, and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters” (Gitlin, 1980: 6). These frames used by news organizations in their coverage, may create a specific representation of reality and the world in the receiver’s minds.

That this is something that can be dangerous is demonstrated by Ann Sanson et all (2013). They analysed the role of media representations of crime, mental illness and diversity (ethnic groups) and their psychological effects in people’s minds. Through an extended literature review, they give a useful insight in the role of media organizations in different kind of representations. The study looks among other issues at the representation of crime in the media and how it has an impact on what people think about this subject. The researchers conclude that “the concern that the media give a distorted view of the amount and type of crime in the community appears to be well-founded.” Furthermore they argue that:

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This can be a very problematic issue particularly in this study. In the French banlieues racism is a problem in the eyes of its inhabitants, as worked out before. Exaggerating the amount of violence in times of the social problems in 2005 and pointing directly to the minorities in these suburbs as the ones to blame, might have nourished an image of aversion towards the inhabitants and enlarged the already existing problems these people witness and feel in their country. Of course, this is not based on any empirical evidence, but it is certainly something to look for in future research. In this study, the idea of pointing exaggeratedly towards the minority groups in the poor suburbs during the social upheaval in 2005, is something that can be reflected in the framing of the events by the French media. The studied newspapers might possibly take a stance that put those people in a particular bad light. In contrary, this is something that this research can demonstrate after the analysis of the framing procedures by

Le Figaro and Le Parisien.

Even though the study Sanson et all did, is performed in Australia and even though it does not study in-depth the direct impact of the media on the publics’ opinion, it does demonstrate that media organizations do misrepresent crime issues. Furthermore, favouring specific angles over others has its implications: “[…] the usual framing of crime stories tends to give priority to some interpretations over others. Adopting narrow criteria of ‘newsworthiness’ leads not only to a highly selective process of deciding on what to cover and what not to, but also to scant attention being given to causal factors in the social context or to a range of options for responding to the problem” (Sanson et all, 2013: 47).

During the riots in France at the end of 2005, journalists reported on events taking place in the poor suburbs of French cities. The tone they use in these reports, the elements they

emphasize or the events they pick may have created a specific image of these districts and the people living in it in the public’s mind. This again might have an influence on the overall picture France has of its run-down neighbourhoods. Thus, the frames used to cover these stories and the events picked out to cover, can be decisive in the development of an image. In that light, which frames the French press used in times of the riots in October and November 2005 is an important question. The people get their information through this coverage and the stance it takes towards the events might influence the public’s opinion. The main research question of this study is therefore:

How are the run-down suburbs of the bigger French cities framed in Le Figaro and Le

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To come to a measured answer, the following sub questions are formulated:

- How many articles on the riots were published in Le Figaro and Le Parisien each day between October 28th and November 5th 2005?

- What frames were used to portray the poor run-down suburbs of the bigger French cities in Le Figaro and Le Parisien during the 2005 riots from October 28th to November 5th?

- How often are the different frames used in Le Figaro and Le Parisien?

This research therefore analyses the specific frames utilised to cover the events that took place during the social upheaval at the end of 2005. It offers a thorough analysis of the coverage published in two French newspapers: Le Figaro and Le Parisien. The choice of picking the respective national and regional newspaper is based upon another journalistic concept this study focuses: proximity. Stijn Joye described this “as a meta-concept to indicate a number of (inter)related factors such as cultural affinity, historical links, geographical distance, trade or economic relations, and psychological or emotional distance. All these factors express a certain relationship of involvement between the (western) spectator and the (distant) sufferer or region affected by the emergency” (Joye, 2010: 256). He looked for the coverage of international disasters in Flemish newspapers and proximity appeared to be a key element.

In this thesis, the focus will be on geographic, cultural and emotional distance or proximity and subsequently in relation to framing. I will compare a national with a regional newspaper to look for differences in framing that might occur in covering the subject as a result of proximity. France is separated in some hundred départements. This is the second level of territorial division next to the twenty-two regions in which the nation is divided. All the regions have a couple of départements within their territory. Every département has its own characteristics and traditions next to more general French cultural elements.

I assume that the riots in Parisian suburbs are the central focus point of the regional Le

Parisien, as it concentrates on the Parisian region. Le Figaro is a national newspaper that has

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Katrina in local, regional and national newspapers. Parisians are geographically closer to the news, especially in the first period when the riots were limited to the Parisian region, and so is

Le Parisien since this newspaper’s focuses mainly on Paris and its suburbs. This geographic

closeness can also create a cultural and with that an emotional connection to events happening in the neighbourhood. As soon as these events have a nature of social upheaval, the level of newsworthiness becomes even more important: “Geographic proximity, the social relevance of the source and the rupture of the social consensus have been configured as the three most common elements of news value/newsworthiness in the acts that belong to the informative affairs diffused by the media” (Túñez & Guevara, 2009: 1031). In this research, the possible differences with regard to framing between the regional Le Parisien and the national Le

Figaro can possibly occur within the context of emotional, cultural and geographical

proximity. The style of reporting of the two media might change when their audience is or feels closer or more connected to the event or the place where the event is happening and in that light it might have its influence on the framing of the events.

That demonstrates exactly the relevance of this study. Shaping specific ideas about this particular event, the riots at the end of 2005 in France, can constitute one of the determinants for the overall picture concerning the banlieues and its inhabitants. This research analyses what the role of the media is in this issue, what kind of image they provide and disseminate into the rest of the nation.

Approach

By performing a qualitative content analysis, this study tries to analyse the frames used in the written reports published in the earlier mentioned newspapers during the riots of 2005. Since the events took place during three weeks and the two newspapers published hundreds of articles in the course of it (Le Parisien approximately 270 and Le Figaro roughly 210), the sample has to be limited in order to be able to perform an in-depth analysis. Therefore, this research analyses the articles published between October 28 and November 5th 2005. The initial event, the two boys that died in Parisian suburb Clichy-sous-Bois after they had been hiding for the police in a power station, took place the 27th of October. However, it really began to escalate the next day and the publications in the newspapers concerning this subject started to appear from that moment onwards.

At first, the events took place in the immediate domain of focus of regional newspaper Le

Parisien. Studying its publications during that period and comparing it with those of the

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differences in reporting. From November 3rd and onwards, the riots were widespread and cities all over the nation were involved. However, it was not before the 6th of November that the situation was as critique outside Paris as it was inside the French capital. This research therefore focuses mainly on the ‘Parisian period’ as it can be called.

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2. Literature Review

This chapter provides an in-depth discussion of some key journalistic concepts for this research. In order to analyse specific frames that are used in the coverage of the 2005 riots in

Le Figaro and Le Parisien, a solid understanding of the theoretical underpinnings is vital.

Therefore, an extensive literature review is presented in this chapter, describing the media’s role in shaping reality and the news selection processes. Furthermore, the role of proximity as a news value in relation to framing is elaborated as well as framing itself and its effects on the public.

2.1 Media and Reality

Media organizations bring the news to the public on a daily basis. With the coverage, they inform the people and create a certain reality at the same time. In his book Public Opinion (1922), Walter Lippmann extensively interprets which effects media organizations have on the people’s interpretations and opinion’s of events happening in the world. He specifically talks about ‘pictures in our heads’ that are given by the media with the example of the flat earth described in the introduction of this study (Lippmann, 1922: 15).

Bernard Cohen came up with a different kind of conclusion. He does not think that audiences get their opinion from the media:

“The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about” (1963: 13).

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However, the influence the media has on their audiences, is subject to discussion. Michael Schudson doubts the power that is often ascribed to the press. In his book The Power of News, he nuances the power of the media with the following striking quote:

“Critics look at the press and see Superman when it is really just Clark Kent” (Schudson, 1995: 17).

He argues that some people make the press too powerful, in any case more powerful than it is in reality.

De Boer and Brennecke (2003) also propose a nuanced perspective on media influence. They refer to Klapper’s ‘limited-effects model’ in which he introduces six mediating factors that restrict the power of the media. Selective exposure is the first one and explains that people expose themselves selectively towards information. They cannot absorb all presented media material. The second factor is in line with the latter. It demonstrates that people only retain elements of the presented information which are coherent with their beliefs and expectations. Furthermore, group norms or ethics play a role and when someone transmits a media message in a normal conversation, this person can take into account his own personal ideas in the transmission of the media message. Thus, the message is adapted to that person’s personal beliefs. Moreover, opinion leaders that spread media messages can choose specific information to transmit. Finally, the public has its influence on what is presented as well. Mass media orientate on the needs of the market, of the public, and anticipate on that (De Boer en Brennecke, 2003: 37-38). Thus, some scholars want to be careful in their statements about a powerful media.

Nevertheless, there exist a lot of scholars that do think the press is influential in the creation of ideas and opinions in the public’s mind. In his study into the ethics of shaping perceptions of reality, Christopher Dorsey (2011) quotes Michael Parenti’s Inventing Reality (1993). Parenti’s statements are in line with Lippmann’s explanation that people rely on the traditional mass media to inform themselves. Parenti argues in his book - written before the rise of Internet as a mass medium - that some opinions of people are possibly developed after exposure to media coverage. This because of the almost unique position the media,

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earlier on and presented to its public concerning specific subjects or events. New information can serve to enforce these ideas. Thus, relying on television news and newspapers, the public is very sensitive to information presented by the media. Parenti argues that they install in some way new opinions in the heads of the audience. This could have consequences for the overall opinion Frenchmen have of the inhabitants of the poor suburbs, in the case of the coverage of the 2005 riots in France. These people in France rely mainly on mass media to get informed and the framing of these events can push opinions in a specific direction.

The idea Parenti presents, is reflected in the example Broersma (2010) gives of the Abu Ghraib pictures and the (political) framing debate that occurred. He refers to Bennett, Lawrence and Livingston (2006, 2007) who demonstrated in their studies that the adopted frame by the media had its effects on the public. Firstly, the events in Abu Ghraib were framed as torture. Instantaneously, people were less likely to approve the intervention of American troops in Iraq. The Bush administration then tried to change this framing in the media by “downplaying the events by framing them as regrettable though isolated instances of abuse”. As a result, the negative tendency towards the Iraqi mission stopped until senator John McCain questioned the operating procedure of the Bush administration (Broersma, 2010: 19). Thus, frames presented to the public seem to have its effects on the public opinion as Broersma’s example demonstrates. This proves that people are indeed sensitive to whatever information the media presents, like Parenti argued.

Dorsey furthermore looks at Murray, Schwartz and Lichter (2001) and their study on journalists misconstruing facts. “It is important to realize that even the best newspaper imaginable could not possibly offer anything like an accurate reproduction and distillation of reality” (Murray, Schwartz and Lichter, 2001: 32). News is always subject to subjective decisions of journalists and can therefore never reflect reality. Newsrooms have their own orientation which is perfectly reflected in the selection of events or the coverage of that same event, as will be explained in the next paragraph. The claim that an accurate or objective reproduction of reality is not possible, is questionable. The representation of news is often times a constructed reality, but it can still be accurate. To state that it is not objective because it is framed in a particular way is true, but this does not mean that every fact in an article is false.

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journalists lack understanding and present statistical information wrongly, they provide their public with a distorted image. In addition, the framing of the events linked to the statistics might be even stronger presented from a specific point of view, supported by those numbers that are wrongly interpreted by the journalist. Like Sanson et all (2013) stated, crime is often misrepresented in the media. A lack of understanding of the statistical information concerning this subject, could be at the bottom of that. Anyhow, a misrepresentation still enters the mind of the public that believes the information the journalist presents is correct and that gets influenced by that same news story.

In sum, this overview demonstrates that it is very hard for media organizations to portray reality as it is in an objective way. Through selection and adopting criteria of newsworthiness, the media create a reality of their own. The selection process applies to the way a story is covered. As Tuchman states: “[...] news, like all public documents, is a constructed reality possessing its own internal validity. A selective reality, rather than a synthetic reality as in literature, news reports exist in and of themselves. They are public documents that lay a world before us” (Tuchman, 1976: 97). Nevertheless, the public generally believes the media coverage and relies on this information, which makes the media influential and powerful. Schudson warns the public that this is something that can be dangerous. When people really believe in the power of the media then it becomes true, a reality, a self-fulfilling prophesy. The public will believe that everything the press presents is true, based on reality.

Consequently, people will start believing in this subjective reality even though these are nothing more than perceptions (Schudson, 1995: 17).

Thus, a balanced position towards the media and their influence is important. Lippman, Broersma, Murray, Schwartz and Lichter and Tuchman presented studies that confirm the powerful position of media organisations in the shaping of specific realities and the formation of opinions of their public. They pointed directly to the influence specific media coverage had on the formation of ideas and opinions among the people. Schudson and De Boer and

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2.2 Professional Culture and Socialization

Different media have different orientations - policies as Breed calls it - but all media have a professional culture. This holds also for Le Figaro and Le Parisien in this study. Journalists learn about this professionalism, as well as about the medium’s orientation, through a process which is called socialization.

“Basically, the learning of policy is a process by which the recruit discovers and internalizes the rights and obligations of his status and its norms and values. He learns to anticipate what is expected of him so as to win rewards and avoid punishments” (Breed, 1955: 328).

However, it is not merely the policy that journalists learn via socialization. It encompasses all elements, norms and values of the professional journalist.

In the first place, which is at the same time the most important part, journalism has to deal with professional norms. With their news stories, journalists try to bring an objective picture of the world. This ‘objectivity norm’ as Schudson (2001: 149) calls it, is “at once a moral ideal, a set of reporting and editing practices, and an observable pattern of news writing.” Neutrality and accuracy are important in this respect, separating facts from opinions. Objectivity is a professional value that journalists try to adhere to. However, there is often times some kind of a viewpoint taken that favours particular aspects or events over others.

The media organization in which the journalist works, is another important determinant in the process of what frame or event is preferred above another. Every news organization has its own ‘policy’ as it is called. “"Policy" may be defined as the more or less consistent

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A third factor of influence is coming from the outside of the newsroom. Shoemaker and Reese sum up some of these possible exterior influences. Among other things they talk about the government, advertisers and interest groups. These can shape a story when they are used as a source or when they are pointedly involved with the media organization for commercial purposes. “Sources can stimulate or constrain the diffusion of information according to their own interests, and journalists' choice of which source to interview can colour the stories they write” (Shoemaker and Reese, 1996: 210). Concerning political sources, there exists a big variety of political parties and movements that all want to make themselves heard. Once quoting a specific politician as a journalist, the story will be partially pushed in a particular direction that is coherent with the beliefs of that politician. This is something that can be compensated by adopting multiple sources that reflect different opinions.

Personal circumstances are a final source of influence in the framing of events, even though these might not be that decisive. American journalists, as Gans (1979) analyses, often include what are called ‘motherhood values’ in their stories. These include an opposition to hate and war amongst others and a favour towards family and love (Gans, 1979: 42). Shoemaker and Reese (1996) argue namely that the journalists’ background, experiences or characteristics do not influence directly the content of media coverage. But what they do state is “that content may be affected to the extent that such factors influence both personal and professional attitudes and roles” (Shoemaker and Reese, 1996: 98). Thus, there may not be a direct relationship between this personal background and the news content, but anyhow some influence is present. “We believe that communicators' professional roles and ethics have more of an influence on content than do their personal attitudes, values, and beliefs” (Shoemaker and Reese, 1996: 98). The journalist’s personal circumstances, influenced by his personal values or background, are hard to maintain within a professional organization. Furthermore, it is part of the job to adopt a professional attitude and thereby suppressing personal values. This refers to the professional values that Schudson studied. It is therefore that I argue that

personal values are not that decisive in the framing process, they are suppressed by other influences.

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2.3 News Values and Proximity

Media outlets have a common professional culture, but also an own orientation with regard to policy. However, it is striking that, when looking quickly at the front pages of different newspapers one morning, lots of the same stories are found. This suggests that it is the result of a particular list of news values that increases or reduces the possibility that an event will make it into the news.

“Journalists, as well their editors and all of the other individuals involved in the work of processing news in a particular news organization, bring to the task of making sense of the social world a series of ‘news values’” (Allan, 1999: 72).

Galtung and Ruge investigated these news values already in 1965. They asked themselves the question what it is that makes events newsworthy. They presented a list of twelve

important news factors that play a role in the news selection process. In 2001, Harcup and O’Neill proposed a more updated one. If a news story generally has one or more of the following elements in it, than it is interesting enough to cover: the power elite, celebrity, entertainment, surprise, bad news, good news, magnitude, relevance, follow-up and

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Stuart Allan (1999: 72) quotes the category relevance as well and links proximity to it. This is a concept that can be explained in different ways, a couple of them are interesting in light of the 2005 riots. There exist historical, economical or cultural proximity that makes events happening somewhere interesting to cover. Hanusch (2008) commented upon this in his research on the coverage of deaths in foreign news in Australian and German newspapers. He proved that cultural proximity, cultural links, is one of the most important determinants in the selection of news. Nations that were culturally related to Australia and Germany received more coverage than others. (Hanusch, 2008: 349).

Proximity is not a concept that has been studied extensively. However, scholars like Joye (2010) and Túñez and Guevara (2009) did use it in their studies with the focus on

geographical proximity. Geographic distance varies according to the range of diffusion of each medium, argue Túñez and Guevara. They refer to Schlesinger who had come up with a gradual scale of newsworthiness of disasters. If the news organization is situated in Europe, one dead European equals roughly speaking twenty-eight Chinese for it to be newsworthy. When people die that are close to the location where the news organization is situated, the possibility that the event will receive news coverage is higher (Túñez & Guevara, 2009: 1036). Thus, what they state is that the closer the event happens with regard to the medium’s diffusion range, the higher the newsworthiness. This does not mean that it only implies the geographical distance. Living close to something makes people familiar on a cultural level and possibly create a emotional bound with everything that happens in that particular area.

Joye studied four Flemish newspapers and looked at the (de)construction of international disasters and the role of the media in this process. He was specifically searching for news factors determining why some disasters receive more attention than others (Joye, 2010: 254). He concludes: “Disasters happening in neighbouring countries, Western Europe or North America had a substantially greater chance of being selected and being covered more in-depth than other crises. In addition, half of all editorial space in the Flemish newspapers was

devoted to European disasters, while eight out of ten disaster situations happen in Africa, Asia and Latin America” (Joye, 2010: 262-263).

This proves that geographical and cultural proximity are important news values. For this research, however, these are not the key concepts to work with since it concentrates on two French newspapers that certainly have a lot in common regarding the selection of events. Le

Figaro focuses, next to France in its entirety, also on Paris and probably adopts the same kind

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more or less universal. However, there are strong arguments to point to that regional and national newspapers do contain differences in their coverage of the same event.

Dill and Wu (2009), for instance, studied the coverage of hurricane Katrina in local, regional and national newspapers. Their main findings were that regional newspapers concentrated on the disaster, on giving information about the tragedy and on recovery and rebuilding. They were more aware of the needs of their public. National newspapers focused more on the failing government (Dill and Wu, 2009: 16-17). They proved that national and regional newspapers concentrate on other elements in the coverage of the same event which is based on the geographic proximity and the focus of the newspaper. In that light, differences in the coverage are likely to occur. Furthermore, the broader scope of Le Figaro may lead to some differences in coverage since, like stated before, the first two phases of the riots in 2005 were limited to the Parisian region. The strong focus on the Parisian region of Le Parisien might be decisive in that respect with more coverage and a different kind of framing.

2.4 Agenda Setting and Framing

The main goal of this study is to find out about differences in framing, in the way in which the events of the 2005 riots are presented in Le Figaro and Le Parisien. After introducing all the major news selection processes, the professional culture of newsrooms and news values, the only concept left to be explained is framing. It will be introduced together with agenda setting, since these two journalistic concepts are closely related.

Lippmann’s analysis of shaping reality by the media is a frequently used starting point in agenda setting studies. Agenda setting is that mass media present particular issues more often than others with the result that people start believing that these are of more importance than others (Coleman et all, 2009: 147). This is what is called first-level agenda setting.

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McCombs goes even further by stating that the mass media do not merely influence public opinion or promote what people think about. “Beyond attitudes and opinions, the pictures of reality created by the mass media have implications for personal behaviours, ranging from college applications to voting on election day” (McCombs, 2002: 17). He gives the example of the University of Pennsylvania. In the middle of the nineties, extensive news coverage concerning crime and violence on the campus of this university occurred. As a result, the number of applications of potential first-year students, mainly women, diminished

significantly. Other universities, on the contrary, witnessed an increase of applications during that time (McCombs, 2002: 15-16). People’s actions get influenced as well through coverage of the media, as this example demonstrates.

The dividing line between the second-level of agenda setting and framing, is not always a very clear one. The two concepts both focus on specific attributes or elements to bring a story. Coleman et all. (2009: 150) argue that “if a frame is defined as a dominant perspective on the object - a pervasive description and characterization of the object - then a frame is usefully delimited as a very special case of attributes.” However, they do admit that both concepts create awareness of how topics in the news are pictured. Other scholars (Price and

Tewksbury, 1997: 184) insist that the difference between the two concepts remains on the level of selecting events to make the public aware of them (agenda setting) and the

presentation of those issues (framing). There is not an univocal answer on the differences and similarities of agenda setting and framing and therefore discussion continues.

There are multiple definitions of framing and frames because it is a subject where lots of researchers have delved into. Next to Gitlin’s definition presented in the introduction,

Entman’s definition touches upon the earlier described reality-shaping process of mass media. By picking out some elements of the perceived reality and emphasising them, a certain

reaction is promoted over others (Entman, 1993: 52). Entman, Matthes and Pellicano (2009: 177) explain how a frame works:

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They refer to Lippman by explaining that the public receives its knowledge through the media and that the frame in which this knowledge is presented, to some extent determines how one thinks about the subject. Therefore, the opinion of the public is affected and

influenced by framing (Entman, Matthes and Pellicano, 2009: 187). Obviously, it is a little too definite to assume that the public relies on only one source, news organisation, to receive its news. These do not all adopt the same frame so to state that one frame is immediately crucial in the forming of an opinion is slightly exaggerated. The combination of all presented frames as well as earlier stored knowledge, as we will see, results in the formation of an opinion.

Now that the definition of framing and frames is outlined, it is relevant to analyse what effects these employed frames can have on the public. This research is not about framing effects, but it is useful to understand why studying frames and framing in general is of importance. The outcomes of this study might be an incentive to analyse the framing effects of the frames adopted during the 2005 riots in France. Therefore, I consider it important to shortly touch upon this.

Frames have specific influence on the publics’ opinion since coverage by the traditional mass media is an important source of information for people. Frames must facilitate the understanding of reality which would otherwise be too difficult to handle: “A framing message has particular cultural resonance; it calls to mind currently congruent elements of schemas that were stored in the past” (Entman, Matthes and Pellicano, 2009: 177). Schemas are: “cognitive structures that represent knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including its attributes and the relations among attributes” (Fiske and Taylor, 1991: 131). Schemas make sure that new information fits in with the already existing organization of knowledge. In this way it will be easier for the public to understand what is going on. Earlier used frames that employ specific schemas increase the probability that the public reacts in a similar way.

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3. Methodology

This study applies content analysis as its main research method. Through this method, it is possible to determine the presence, meaning and relationship of particular words, phrases, paragraphs or texts as a whole. For this reserach, the focus lies on written data, articles. A broader definition for content analysis, in communication studies, is a type of research that helps the empirical analysis of media data aiming to answer questions about the influence or the function of mass media in society (Wester, 2004). This method can be distinguished into different branches, as will be developed in the next paragraph.

3.1 Content Analysis: Quantitative versus Qualitative

“Content analysis is a summarizing, quantitative analysis of messages that relies on the scientific method (including attention to objectivity, intersubjectivity, a priori design, reliability, validity, generalizability, replicability and hypothesis testing) and is not limited as to the types of variables that may be measured or the context in which the messages are created or presented” (Neuendorf, 2002: 10).

Pleijter (2006) explains that during a long period of time, the systematic quantitative content analysis was dominant. This is related to the spirit of the age and the view of research that it needed facts conveyed in numbers because these express accurately how often something occurs or how important something is. Researchers like Berelson argued that research needed to be objective, precise and accurate and that it therefore needed to be quantitative (Pleijter, 2006: 3).

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about in a particular domain and of theoretical considerations in relation to that domain, deduces a hypothesis (or hypotheses) that must then be subjected to empirical scrutiny.” Thus, a deductive approach tests a specific theory in empirical observations or findings and is related to quantitative research. An inductive approach on the other hand, first analyses data to subsequently generate or develop theories out of it.

Neuendorf’s definition of content analysis does not explicitly include qualitative analysis. She proposes a list of descriptions and categorisations of this type of research in which

interpretative analysis figures next to rhetorical, narrative, structuralist or semiotic and critical analysis. Furthermore, Neuendorf argues that the greater part of these forms of qualitative analyses can fit within the context of content analysis through minor adjustment (2002: 5-7). Pleijter refers to Kracauer and George, who had a problem with the assumption that messages are a collection of separate characteristics that can be counted or represented in an objective manner. The researchers argued in favour of a method that contains more interpretation, one that did not have quantification as its main goal, which was called qualitative interpretative later on. In the eyes of George, it was not possible that only frequencies and numbers determine the actual meaning of a message. The absence or presence of one little element could in that light be decisive for the complete message, and this researcher did not want to accept that (Pleijter, 2006: 4). The qualitative, more interpretative, research strand is thus in contrast with the quantitative strand that focuses on the accuracy of numbers and leaves interpretation out of play.

This research applies both quantitative and qualitative research strategies and therefore it is useful to adopt a broader definition of content analysis, for example the one formulated by Neuman (1997: 272-273): “A technique for gathering and analyzing the content of text. The ‘content’ refers to words, meanings, pictures, symbols, ideas, themes, or any message that can be communicated. The ‘text’ is anything written, visual, or spoken that serves as a medium for communication.” This definition makes space for both quantitative as qualitative analyses. In short, in quantitative research the emphasis lies on the testing of theory and it accepts the deductive view of social reality as an external, objective reality. Qualitative research on the other hand, is about the interpretation of the collected material to come to new ideas about the subject, an inductive approach. The accent is on words and less on measurement (Bryman, 2008: 22).

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researcher needs to approach with an open mind all the material that will be studied. Results of the analysis of the data are normally combined into a broad set of labels out of which the researcher tries to detect a structure Baarda, 2009: 17-19).

“In summary, quantitative content analysis can conform to the scientific method and produce reliable findings. Qualitative content analysis is difficult and maybe impossible to do with scientific reliability. But qualitative analysis of texts is necessary to understand their deeper meanings and likely interpretations by audiences – surely the ultimate goal of analyzing media content. So a combination of the two seems to be the ideal approach” (Macnamara, 2005: 5).

In this research, the main element is qualitative since this study wants to detect the

different frames employed in the coverage of Le Figaro and Le Parisien of the 2005 riots in France. Neuendorf (2002) and Pleijter (2006) both refer to Hijman’s (1996) typology of five different forms of qualitative research applied to media content. One of the categories is named interpretative analysis and Pleijter explains that its main goal is to develop theory out of empirical material. New conceptual categories or theories are developed by analysing the data with an open mind. The relation between the data and concepts is not a pre-established one but it evolves with the data and hypotheses that will be formulated in the process. The procedure has therefore a cumulative character. The researcher starts with directive notions that guide the organisation of the studied material and tests the newly formulated concepts and understandings again and again by the study of new data. The researcher selects the data through a specific step-by-step plan to ensure that it will represent correctly the phenomenon at hand (Pleijter, 2006: 24).

Grounded Theory

This study performs a qualitative content analysis based on the principles of grounded theory. This form of research has an interpretative nature which is very much similar to the

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‘grounded’ in the data” (Charmaz, 2006: 187). Charmaz explains that grounded theory prefers analysis and new categories over description and already developed theories. Thus, grounded theorists aim and prefer to create codes out of the analyses of data instead of working with predefined theories. This is the inductive approach that Charmaz mentions and which is elaborated in the beginning of this chapter.

This framing research applies inductive qualitative content analysis and follows closely the rules of grounded theory. It wants to study the material with an open mind without sticking to predefined theories, or frames in this case, that possibly obstruct the formulation of new ideas. In order to avoid the formulation of frames that are too broad, the focus will be on issue-specific frames. The responsibility, conflict, human interest, economic consequences and morality frame occur frequently in news coverage, as Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) argue. Thus, although news organizations have their own perception of reality, some frames are commonly shared and frequently adopted to inform the public. De Vreese, Peter and Semetko (2001) make the difference between issue-specific and more general news frames: “Issue-specific frames pertain to “Issue-specific topics or news events, whereas generic frames are broadly applicable to a range of different news topics, some even over time and, potentially, in different cultural contexts” (De Vreese et all, 2001: 108). Studying news frames by adopting an issue-specific method makes it possible to be more detailed and explicit in the conclusions. The researcher can get an insight of specific elements in the news coverage (on the level of organisation, elaboration or aspects of selection) that are typical for a particular issue.

However, they also point to the restriction of that approach. It is hard to built theory or make a general hypothesis out of it since it is so detailed and issue specific (De Vreese et all, 2001: 108-109).

All things considered, the events taken place in the banlieues could theoretically be interpreted as a group of people that try to fight for their rights and therefore is deliberately looking for the confrontation with the police. When only looking for broader frames, the conflict and human interest are the ones that easily will come to the surface. This study focuses on a very specific and limited period of time and aims to perform an analysis on a detailed level about this unusual situation in France. Therefore, it concentrates on the

extraction of newly formulated frames that touch more in detail upon the subject of the article in question and that are subsequently more issue-specific.

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employed in Le Figaro and Le Parisien is counted as well. These two elements reveal something about the portrayal of the 2005 riots: the amount of space dedicated to the subject and the amount of space dedicated to one particular frame in the respective newspapers. These components are part of the overall framing of the events and shed light on the attention given to this matter as well as on the dominant frames.

3.2 Research Design

The two selected newspapers are Le Figaro and Le Parisien. These two media outlets have a different background and different characteristics. Therefore it is necessary to dive a little bit into the history of both and afterwards to describe the interesting parts of comparing these newspapers.

Le Figaro is the oldest national daily in France, which has a broad scope and the entire

country as focus point, and it was founded in 1854. The editorial stance taken is just right of the centre and with that, it is the natural opponent of Le Monde which is situated slightly left of the centre (Thogmartin: 236-241). Le Figaro’s right-wing orientation is retraceable in an editorial from the editor in chief Alexis Brézet. He strongly contradicts the socialist direction the actual French government of François Hollande takes. Furthermore, the newspaper has a liberal, conservative stance and displays this regularly, as the opposition towards Hollande demonstrates (Le Figaro, 2013). It used to have a lower circulation than its main rival, Le

Monde, but that changed in the new millennium. In 1981 its circulation was approximately

336.000 against 439.000 of Le Monde. In 2009 the latter had a circulation of 288.000 whereas

Le Figaro stayed relatively stable with 315.000. The newspaper sets the agenda, is influential

over political and economical decision-makers and forms a discussion platform for new social and cultural ideas (Kuhn, 2011: 36-42). This makes it interesting in light of the 2005 riots.

The other newspaper that will be used in this research for analysis is the regional Le

Parisien. More than any other newspaper from the Parisian region, it tries to focus upon

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Parisian region and combined with Aujourd’hui en France, a national version of Le Parisien that was launched in 1994, it is the biggest national daily newspaper (Kuhn, 2011: 36).

The choice of picking these two media organisations is based on multiple reasons. Firstly, the content of both newspapers is easily retrievable via the database of Lexis Nexis.

Furthermore, Le Figaro is a quality newspaper whereas Le Parisien is considered to be more popular. The above described characteristics of both types of media outlets demonstrate the differences that might occur in the framing of the subject as well. Popular media include for instance more celebrity news and try to focus more on the emotional, human side of things and employ usually a more informal kind of language. Quality media often times take one step back to a more observing, problem-oriented point of view, leaving the emotional side often behind. However, the most important concept for this research is proximity as a news value (see literature review). Therefore it is very interesting comparing a national newspaper with a regional newspaper. The latter is likely to be more oriented towards a very specific geographical area whereas the first normally operates with a broader scope which possibly has its implications for the overall framing. The focus in the analysis will mainly be on the

concept of proximity.

By performing a comparative qualitative content analysis based upon the principles of grounded theory, this study tries to analyse the frames that have been used in the written reports published in the earlier mentioned newspapers during the riots of 2005. To investigate in detail the different frames that the articles employ, this study analyses initially every article on three different levels. Firstly, the complete text is regarded in its entirety and first ideas about it are written down. In this first phase, the title and other words or sentences placed on top of the text by the newspaper are included. This supplies a first characterisation of the article. Then, this research will code on a more detailed level from paragraph to paragraph. Every paragraph receives a specific label which characterises the content of that paragraph. The last part of this initial phase is to apply a more in-depth word-by-word coding procedure. The focus here lies on adjectives, metaphors, nouns and particular expressions that push the story in a specific direction. It is of importance to stick closely to the data, as Charmaz puts it. “ Try to see actions in each segment of data rather than applying pre-existing categories to the data. Attempt to code with words that reflect action” (Charmaz, 2006: 47-48).

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sense for the categorisation of the data. Thus, the most important codes should be included. The intention is to compare every newly coded article with earlier coded articles to refine the focused codes (Charmaz, 2006: 60). This is a time consuming process but it will have positive effects on the outcome. Performing this consistently provides a complete and coherent set of frames that will be refined and extended again and again.

The selected articles of Le Figaro and Le Parisien will be analysed following their date of appearance. With every new article, already developed frames or ideas will be adjusted and refined. This will eventually lead to a list of frames with a range of specific characteristics, which will all be precisely described in the codebook. Next, the comparative part of the research takes place. The number of articles published, the frames adopted and the occurrence of particular frames per newspaper are compared. This results in an in-depth comparative analysis of the respective newspapers out of which conclusions can be drawn and hopefully an answer to the research question can be formulated.

3.3 Sample

The research question formulated for this thesis requests a non-probability form of sampling. It does not ask for a random sample. The study wants to analyse the frames adopted by Le

Figaro and Le Parisien during the three weeks of the social upheaval late 2005. Therefore, a

purposive sampling is adopted. This means that the sample must be relevant with regard to the constructed research question (Bryman, 2008: 415).

With the use of the following keywords in the database of Lexis Nexis: émeutes (riots), banlieue française (French poor suburb) and Clichy-sous-Bois, a vast amount of articles appeared. Approximately 270 for Le Parisien and 210 for Le Figaro for the complete three weeks that the riots took place. There was no distinction made between hard news and opinion articles. All that was included because it tells something about the amount of space dedicated to the events in the newspapers as well as the framing of the subject. Opinion pieces in particular demonstrate a very strong position towards a subject.

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appear from that moment onwards. The immediate cause led to social upheaval that was mainly concentrated in Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil for five days. In the night of the 31st of October and the 1st of November, the second phase started, which took three days, and people in all suburbs in the bigger Parisian region began rioting. The third and longest phase (approximately fourteen days) debuted during the night of November 3rd to November 4th as it really started to spread all over France’s bigger cities’ poor districts. First in Lyon, Rouen and Rennes and the night after also in Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Roubaix

(Mucchielli and Le Goaziou, 2006: 18-19). From the night of the 6th of November to the 7th, the riots outside Paris were as firm as inside the nation’s capital until the situation calmed down around the 17th of November.

Preferably, the complete three weeks of the riots are analysed. However, because of the time limits this thesis has, the sample has to be narrowed down. Therefore only the first nine days of the riots are included. To be more precise, all coverage that showed up with the employed keywords between October 28th 2005 and November 5th 2005. These dates are picked out because they constitute the initial part of the riots and in order to be able to present an overview of the used frames concerning the subject, every article must be included. The unit of analysis is for that same reason a newspaper article.

3.4 Reliability

As Jim Macnamara (2005: 5) stated in the quote used earlier, qualitative content analysis is very hard to do with scientific reliability. After all, it relies heavily on the interpretation of the researcher and is therefore very difficult to reproduce the exact same way as before. However, this research strand has characteristics that increase the scientific objectivity or reliability as Pleijter explains (2006: 31).

The studied material is always fixed and available to everyone that wants to perform the same kind of study. Newspaper articles, broadcasts on radio or television or texts in

magazines: once they are recorded and stored, they are retrievable. It is of great importance that the researcher demonstrates the exact way he proceeded in order to replicate the

qualitative research (2006: 31). The researcher needs to archive the studied material just like written memos in order to make his research as transparent as possible.

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outline in detail every step taken, like explained above. Internal reliability, similar to

intercoder reliability, has to do with the consistency with which researchers work together on a particular research and is therefore not of any relevance for this research, since there is only one person that analyses the material (Pleijter, 2006: 45).

Another important concept is validity. This means that there must be consensus between the studied phenomenon in the empirical reality and the conclusions the researcher draws following that. Meso and Smaling came with an internal and external variant. Internal validity is about the quality of the collected material and the reasons or rationale behind drawn

conclusions. The collection of background information, the maintaining of a log with every step taken in the research and discussing the findings with informants are some elements that increase internal validity. The external variant focuses on the generalisation of the findings. Goal-oriented sampling is applied to test the developed theory and if it is still applicable in even the most extreme situations (Pleijter, 2006: 46).

This research will be transparent with every step it takes. This advances reliability as well as validity. In the paragraph called research design, the proceedings are outlined.

Furthermore, the codebook demonstrates what frames are formulated, on what grounds and what elements belong to or make this frame. The sampling is already goal-oriented and based on an extreme situation, which is the case of the 2005 riots in France. It only wants to study how the situation is portrayed in Le Figaro and Le Parisien. To enhance the internal validity and to make sure that the conclusions that will be drawn make sense, this research introduced the case in the introduction to include the background information needed. Furthermore, I performed a broad analysis of the social upheaval and the role of French politics in my BA thesis.

3.5 Limitations and Further Research

Even though this research tries to be as transparent as possible, some limitations and

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change in frames after the 5th of November, the last day included here, will not be detected. The remaining twelve days of the conflict are naturally very useful to analyse later on. It will reveal the similarities and differences in framing between the results of the timeframe studied here and the rest of the period.

Moreover, this study includes only the written press and excludes television and radio broadcasts completely. It is for that reason that this research does not want to pretend that it gives a complete picture of the entire French media and its coverage of the riots. It is

presented as a starting point and focuses on two newspapers and their ways of portraying the conflict. It is recommended that in the future other researchers take this thesis as an incentive to analyse framing processes of this specific conflict done by other French news

organisations. Subsequently, studying the framing effects on French audiences of the

coverage done by the French news organisations in the course of the 2005 riots will be a very useful addition.

Furthermore, Le Figaro and Le Parisien are the studied newspapers here. These both have an orientation just right of the centre and in that light this study is restricted to a particular part of the media spectrum in France. It will remain unknown what coverage newspapers of the left-wing presented to the public. Moreover, a national newspaper is compared to a regional one. It is likely that some differences occur in that light. Comparing two national quality newspapers, e.g. Le Figaro and Le Monde, would have been interesting as well to investigate if the same kind of differences or similarities would show up there. In addition, the same thing can be stated about Le Figaro that is considered being a quality newspaper and Le Parisien a popular one. Both sorts of media have their own characteristics and in the future it is

interesting to analyse two quality or two popular news outlets to be on the alert for any striking issues.

Finally, and possibly the most important limitation, this qualitative research is performed by one person only. The literature have demonstrated that qualitative analysis is always interpretative and therefore contains no hard evidence. The fact that there is only one coder makes this even more problematic. The results will be rather subjective and the study cannot be duplicated like in quantitative research since there are not many fixed parameters.

Transparency about proceedings is given as much as possible, but nevertheless exact

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4. Analysis

The purpose of this chapter is to present the results that came out of the analysis of the selected articles that were published in Le Figaro and Le Parisien between October 28th until November 5th of 2005. The argument will be constructed with a brief introduction of each of the detected frames. The reasons behind their selection, what elements belong to them as well as examples will be depicted to come to a clear and detailed picture of each frame.

Subsequently, the specifics of the two newspapers concerning that frame will be presented to demonstrate differences and similarities.

As explained above, the line of approach is to give a detailed overview of the different frames detected in the analysed articles before comparing the two studied newspapers. The frames that more or less have the same kind of subject will be clustered into thematic clusters. Each theme will be shortly introduced and subsequently the focus shifts to the frames that belong to the cluster. Furthermore, the frames are separately and extensively discussed to present a clear idea of what they are about. For a more detailed overview of what was emphasized in each frame, the codebook is available.

4.1 Frames

Before delving into the discussion of the frames, two tables are presented to indicate the number of frames used in Le Parisien and Le Figaro. This will serve as a background that will be referred to with every newly described frame and its occurrence in the two

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0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Outrageous rioters

Condemnation of political policy Support of political policy Government under pressure Governmental solidarity Failing police Exoneration of the police Angry and mourning community Mediating community Anxious, angry and desperate inhabitants Role of education Measuring urban violence Problematic integration Deterioration of society Islam oppressing the nation Exoneration of the Islam Innocent victims Economical consequences Reconstruction Frequency Fr am e

Overview of all frames

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35 Table 4.2 Overview of the occurrence of all formulated frames in percentages in Le Parisien and Le Figaro

It is striking that Le Parisien, which appears every day of the week in the morning, started publishing right from the beginning of the social upheaval. On the 28th of October the medium already wrote an article about the situation of the night before. The day after, the number elevated quickly to six articles dedicated to issues related to the riots which clearly shows the newsworthiness of the events. The focus was strongly on the activities of the rioters

themselves. Le Figaro, that also appears every morning but not on Sundays, did not publish articles concerning this subject the day after the first wave of violence. The national

newspaper started writing about these events on the 29th of October, when one text appeared.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Outrageous rioters

Condemnation of political policy Support of political policy Government under pressure Governmental solidarity Failing police Exoneration of the police Angry and mourning community Mediating community Anxious, angry and desperate inhabitants Role of education Measuring urban violence Problematic integration Deterioration of society Islam oppressing the nation Exoneration of the Islam Innocent victims Economical consequences Reconstruction

Percentage (rounded off)

Fr

am

e

Overview of all frames (in percentages)

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On Sunday the 30th, Le Figaro did not publish articles concerning this subject because it does not appear on that last day of the week. Le Parisien was at that time already very busy with the coverage of the riots and published five articles that specific Sunday. It was clear that right from the start, in spite of the Sunday edition, the Parisian daily judged the events as being more newsworthy than its national counterpart.

This difference can be linked to (geographical) proximity as a news factor, like Túñez & Guevara (2009) and Joye (2010) analysed in previous studies. The riots were picked up earlier by the regional medium, since at that moment the situation was rather limited to one specific area of Paris and therefore likely to have been considered not that interesting for people living in Marseille for example. The geographical distance or the focus point of Le Parisien could have been decisive in that respect. Emotional proximity can also relate to this. People living in the streets of Paris might have more feeling with the stricken districts. They are more likely to know the different suburbs or may even live there themselves.

The regional Parisian newspaper paid a lot more attention to the situation as can be seen in the numbers. Le Parisien published a total of 63 articles between the 28th of October and the 5th of November. Le Figaro dedicated only half of that amount of texts to the riots, with 33 texts within that same period. Proximity, once again, seems to have been decisive in that respect. The focus in this study lies on the ‘Parisian’ period of the riots. It all started in the backyard of Le Parisien that immediately dove into the subject once the first riots appeared. It zoomed in on all different suburbs and described precisely what happened in which banlieue.

Furthermore, the distribution of the different frames is both striking and interesting. The political diversity within the frames utilised in Le Figaro is eye-catching as well as the use of individual or separate frames that were employed by authors of opinion pieces. The lack of these kind of articles in the regional Parisian newspaper is another interesting point that marks a difference between the two papers. Next to that, the ‘popular’ Le Parisien seems to be more specifically looking for emotional stories, allowing more locals to tell their story and bringing the news out of the community.

The portrayal of the 2005 suburban riots in France in the French written press