Depoliticizing discourses The role of editorials in the reproduction of consensus: assessing the media coverage of the Yellow Vest movement Mathilde Colin Human rights Bachelor thesis 15 ECTS Spring term 2019 Supervisor: Jonna Pettersson 1 Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to study how Yellow Vest protests, which started 17 November 2018, and protesters themselves, were being described in the French mainstream press. The material consisted in 19 editorials from 5 of the most-circulated newspapers in the country. They were analyzed using Norman Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysis and within a theoretical framework drawn from Chantal Mouffe’s discussion of the notion of consensus. The findings suggest that the mainstream discourse on Yellow Vests is one which denies their legitimacy within the political realm through a process of depoliticization supported by discourses of contempt, republicanism, and unity. This study illustrates the struggle of protesters to be granted space and legitimacy within contemporary democracies to properly exercise their civil and political rights. Keywords: consensus, democracy, France, media, Yellow Vests Word count: 14145 2 List of Abbreviations ACPM – Alliance for press and media figures (Alliance pour les chiffres de la presse et des médias) CDA – Critical Discourse Analysis EU – European Union FN – National Front (Front National, now RN, Rassemblement National) IGF – General Inspectorate of Finances (Inspection Générale des Finances) IGPN – General Inspectorate of the National Police (Inspectorat Général de la Police Nationale) LFI – Unbowed France (La France Insoumise) LR – The Republicans (Les Républicains) LREM – The Republic on the Move (La République en Marche) PS – Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste) RIC – People's Referendum (Référendum d'Initiative Citoyenne) RWB – Reporters Without Borders TICPE – Domestic consumption tax on energy products (Taxe intérieure de consommation sur les produits énergétiques) UN – United Nations 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Introduction to the topic .................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Research aim and questions .............................................................................................................. 6 1.3 Relevance to human rights ................................................................................................................ 7 1.3.1 The overall context of repression .............................................................................................. 7 1.3.2 Media, protest movements and human rights: the “guard dogs” perspective ........................... 9 1.4 Delimitations ................................................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Thesis outline .................................................................................................................................. 11 2. Context ............................................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 French politics ................................................................................................................................. 12 2.1.1 The political system ................................................................................................................ 12 2.1.2 The political culture ................................................................................................................ 13 2.1.3 Emmanuel Macron's election .................................................................................................. 15 2.2 French media ................................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.1 The media system ................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.2 The role and status of the editorial .......................................................................................... 18 2.3 The Yellow Vest movement ........................................................................................................... 19 3. Literature review ............................................................................................................................ 22 3.1 Media and protest movements ........................................................................................................ 22 3.2 News coverage of protest in French media ..................................................................................... 23 4. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Defining consensus ......................................................................................................................... 26 4.2 Jürgen Habermas' theory of communicative action ........................................................................ 26 4.3 Chantal Mouffe's model of agonistic democracy ............................................................................ 26 5. Methodology .................................................................................................................................... 29 5.1 Critical discourse analysis ............................................................................................................... 29 5.1.1 Norman Fairclough's framework ............................................................................................ 29 5.1.2 Norman Fairclough's perspective on media discourse ............................................................ 30 5.2 Introduction to the media material .................................................................................................. 31 5.3 Data collection ................................................................................................................................ 34 5.4 Ethical considerations ..................................................................................................................... 34 6. Analysis ............................................................................................................................................ 36 6.1 Discourse of contempt .................................................................................................................... 36 6.2 Discourse of republicanism ............................................................................................................. 40 6.3 Discourse of unity ........................................................................................................................... 43 7. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................... 46 Appendix 1: List of editorials ............................................................................................................. 48 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 49 4 1. Introduction 1.1 Introduction to the topic On April 17, 2017, President-to-be Emmanuel Macron gave a speech in the AccorHotels Arena, east of Paris. “You have understood it,” the En Marche ! candidate President tells the crowd. “We will have to, at the same time, live, work, and learn. Excuse me, you have probably noticed, I said: at the same time.” Immediately, the crowd laughs, applauses, and starts shouting “At the same time!” (en même temps). “Some say it’s a verbal tic,” Macron continues. “But that it’s a verbal tic that means I am not clear [...] because, you know, some people like boxes, categorized ideologies [...] well, I will keep using ‘at the same time’ because it means that we take into account imperatives [...] whose conciliation is indispensable. [...] I chose the best of the right and the best of the left.” Just under a year before that speech, Chantal Mouffe’s On The Political was translated into French under the title L’illusion du consensus (‘The Illusion of Consensus’)1. The essay tackles the post-political Zeitgest which she argues denies existing antagonisms. According to Mouffe, the nature of consensus is not to be accommodating, a one-size-fits-all, win-win solution to complex issues, but rather, “all forms of consensus are by necessity based on acts of exclusion2.” In response to antagonism, rather than referring to the inherently depoliticizing notions of consensus and of the ‘end of history,’ Mouffe argues, “a central task of democratic politics is to provide the institutions which will permit conflicts to take an ‘agonistic’ form, where the opponents are not enemies but adversaries among whom exists a conflictual consensus3.” In other words, in pluralist democracies, institutions are to accommodate antagonisms. Just over a year after that speech, the Yellow Vest movement emerged, granting the “President of consensus” with all-time low rates of approval4. Originally a tax revolt protesting raising diesel fuel prices, the Yellow Vest movement would become an all- encompassing protest which, rather than opposing a specific law or draft law,