The Public and the Private in Contemporary French Politics

Abstract

This article examines selected aspects of the changing public/private interface in the mediatisation of politicians in contemporary France. It argues that there is normative confusion surrounding attempts to establish an agreed dividing line between the public and the private in both politicians' mediated communication and journalists' political coverage. Such confusion is a product of mutually reinforcing changes in the interdependent relationship between three sets of actors: politicians, journalists and the public. Politicians need to use the media for the purposes of self-publicity and the projection of a coherent electoral image; journalists operate in highly competitive media markets which are dominated by the pursuit of audiences and advertising revenue; and the public as voters have become disenchanted with the political class, while as media users they have become accustomed to the exposure of the private lives of celebrities.