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Zürich, March 26th, 2010. The recent Non A L´Islamisme campaign in the French elections provides a perfect example of how anti-Islamic communication can be used to increase political awareness in Europe. A study of political coverage in France shows that the campaign brought the issue of integration on the French political agenda back to the levels of the 2007 civil unrest. The effect of this was a rise in awareness for Front National and a reopening of the debate on integration and national identity in France

Front National poster puts integration at 2007 level.

Media Tenor´s ongoing analysis of political information in France´s TF2 shows that before the Non A L´Islamisme campaign, integration issues were well below the awareness threshold in French TV. The presence of direct reference to immigration topics on TF2´s political agenda peaked at nearly 6% of all statements in late 2007, and then quickly returned to a very low 1.5% or less level of reporting until March 2010. In March 2010 the issue constituted 4% of all statements referring to politicians and parties.

According to Media Tenor researcher Michael Gawthorne, this result shows how a virtual crisis was manufactured on the French political agenda. He points out that, unlike 2007, there was no crisis in the streets, yet the resurgence of the issue, and the resulting censorship debate had its effect. “The issue of Islam and integration, if negatively framed, will generate news in Western Europe because there is a perceived threat – it is not important whether this threat is true or instigated”.

A Small volume of the issue creates a volume surge for Front National

The political benefits for Front National were measurable. In the nine months previous to the regional elections, the party had not received more than 1% of the French political agenda – in March this was over 10%. Gawthorne is not at all surprised with this result: “the Islam issue has become a sure fire way for right wing groups in Europe to get attention. The Swiss SVP proved that last year with their ‘substitute discussion´ during the minaret referendum, and now we see the same symbolism working again”.

Media Tenor´s data also gives an insight into the role of the opposition on such issues. The analysis of Swiss political date in the Minaret showed a distinct lack of opposition to the Minaret initiative in 2009 (see graphic 4). The situation in France was slightly different, with the issue creating volume for both UMP and Parti Socialist. “Unlike in Switzerland, the French left was not prepared to leave the populist agenda untouched, there is a dialog in some respects” notes Gawthorne.

“Borrowed” Swiss poster raises concerns on journalistic quality

The connection to the Swiss anti minaret initiative is obvious with the same imagery - women and the minaret – but the difference being the use of the French map and the Islam symbol in place of the Swiss map. Censorship of the poster did not remove the issue from the agenda, rather it generated more discussion. This situation raises questions for quality issues journalism in Europe, if this type of anti Islamic symbolism is guaranteed to generate coverage for any right wing group journalists may need to ask if they entering into a necessary democratic debate, or if they being exploited.

The reputational damage which such events do for national images in the broader international context can be seen from Media Tenor´s analysis of the Swiss minaret initiative in late 2009. This showed that the tonality of Swiss perception in international television plummeted after the vote to ban the building of minarets.



Basis: 40 200 statements on French politicians and parties in TF2 since 2007.

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