In the media, diversity struggles to exist – Libération

What does the typical person on television look like? He is a white man, aged 35 to 40, CSP+ and living in a city center. And of course it is valid. For social diversity, there is still work to be done. The report, presented on November 15 by Arcom, deciphers the content of 19 TNT channels from 2013 to 2023. Documentaries, television news, films and reality TV shows are scrutinized. The study's conclusions are mixed. The number of women represented has increased. On the other hand, racialized people are barely visible, and precariousness and disability are almost non-existent on screen.

A few more women

In 2022, an article published in Liberation deplored the unequal representation between men and women in the media. The outcome was not glorious, it is now tending towards the better. The proportion of women on screen has increased from 37% to 40% in a decade. In 2023, there were even 45% women in the programs with the highest audiences. And even if the representation of women generally decreases with age, “23% of people over 50 were women in 2013 compared to 28% in 2023”, which is a clear increase. The study shows that, however, they continue to be associated with very gendered themes (education, leisure, culture) and are less called upon to talk about science or politics.

15% non-white people

The audiovisual landscape is still very white. Over the last ten years, 15% of people perceived as racialized have occupied the screen. In fiction programs, they embody positive roles but are also assigned to marginal or illegal sectors of activity and confined to low-skilled professions. An observation supported by a study by the 50/50 collective published this year, which notes that characters of Arab origin in the fictional landscape are often salespeople, janitors, or cleaning ladies; or that black characters are often confined to the roles of security guard, bus driver, receptionist… On 24-hour news channels, non-white people represent only 10% of the workforce, and are there generally presented in a negative way. When it comes to talking about French politics, only 8% of them are asked.

Disability is almost non-existent

He is the big absentee from television programs. Between 2013 and 2023, people with disabilities will represent only 0.7% of people on screen. They are almost invisible on continuous news channels, in particular CNews and BFM TV which only devote 0.3% to them. The study also notes that, all programs combined, “people identified as having a disability are perceived slightly more negatively than people identified as able-bodied.” This means that they embody more “bad guys” that “hero”that they act badly, have bad behavior. Between 2022 and 2023, cognitive disabilities were the most represented (40%), as for example in the monthly broadcast the Papotin Meetings on France 2, hosted by people with autistic disorder. Conversely, deafness is the least visible disability (2%).

More working-class neighborhoods, but fewer poor people

City centers are still on the rise, but working-class neighborhoods are not left out. They are experiencing strong growth on the small screen, going from 3% of airtime in 2022 to 10% in 2023. Successful fiction has helped to boost the figures. On the other hand, on screen, poverty becomes a pipe dream. While more than 14% of French people are in a precarious situation according to INSEE, only 1% of people are disadvantaged in television programs. These rarely occupy the leading roles, are often in the background. The year 2023 even breaks records for invisibility, showing only 0.8% of precarious individuals.

The audiovisual policeman, however, welcomes diversification efforts in the most recent programming, particularly during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but notes that these are not yet reflected in the barometer. We will have to wait for next year's results to measure their extent.