Dominique Wolton was in Marseille on Monday September 11, 2023, at EJCAM, to mark the release of l'Essentiel Journalisme et post-vérité (Hermès, CNRS), coordinated by Alexandre Joux, with Pauline Amiel, contributions from Marc Bassoni and Stéphanie Lukasik for IMSIC, Lucas Graves, Jérémie Nicey, Benoît Grevisse, Vincent Carlino and Nathalie Pignard-Cheynel, Nicolas Kaciaf and others ...
He met doctoral students and teacher-researchers for a time of exchange and discussion about Hermès and the research carried out by the IMSIC (Mediterranean Institute of Information and Communication Sciences).
At 16:30, Conference-debate on journalism and post-truth: for an info-communication approach to journalism.
Introduction by Alexandre Joux and presentation of L'Essentiel Journalism and post-truth, lecture by Dominique Wolton, presentation of IMSIC work related to the theme of L'Essentiel: media treatment of the "Raoult case" in the press, by Erika Riberi. Debate with the audience.
Report on this meeting with Axel Gontcho, M2 RECICOM (EJCAM)
Journalism and post-truth: the exchange with Dominique Wolton
Save the date: on September 28, 2023, Journalisme et post-vérité will be published by CNRS editions. This collective work, coordinated by Alexandre Joux and Pauline Amiel, teacher-researchers at the School of journalisme and of communication of Aix-Marseille (EJCAM), brings together contributions from several researchers at EJCAM and elsewhere.
On Monday September 11 in Marseille, students got a preview with Alexandre Joux, Erika Riberi (also a teacher-researcher at Aix-Marseille University) and Dominique Wolton, founder of the Institute of communication sciences and director of the Les essentiels d'Hermès collection at CNRS editions.
"What's going on to make us doubt journalistic truth today?" That's the question behind this book, which aims to "reconsider journalism from a normative point of view, to redefine what journalism is. Journalism that recounts facts accepted by all", notes Alexandre Joux in his introduction.
The multiplicity of players and the proliferation of information producers on digital social networks have led to "the complete oblivion of facts, the total oblivion of journalism", explains Alexandre Joux. The aim of the contributors to this book is to restore the central question of factual truth to its rightful place in society.
"You can comment on the facts, interpret them, express your own opinion, but at the heart of the matter lies the truth of the facts, without which no communication is possible," explains Alexandre Joux. He illustrates his point with clear examples. Like this extract from Hannah Arendt on the causes of the First World War. Shortly before his death, Georges Clémenceau was asked what future historians would think of this controversial question. His reply: "I don't know, but what I am sure of is that they won't say that Belgium invaded Germany".
Journalism should enable communication between actors in society. And this is only possible if journalists put themselves at the service of the truth. This is known as the info-communication approach to journalism," explains the researcher. It is in this drive to recover the legitimacy of the journalistic profession that the concepts of fact-checking and debunking have emerged in recent years. Firstly, so that journalists can put political statements through a reality check, particularly during election campaigns, and secondly, so that they can sort out the truth from the falsehood in the mass of rumours circulating, especially on the Internet. Journalists are essential to any democracy," insists Dominique Wolton.
Their battle is to identify the facts that distinguish them from lies and manipulation.
"The more information there is, the less truth there is" in our modern era dominated by digital social networks, where audiences increasingly appreciate the twisted, notes Dominique Wolton. The profusion of information has not brought more truth, as was hoped at the end of the 20th century - quite the contrary. As a result, the public no longer knows whether to trust journalists. As a result, the journalist's legitimacy is criticized. The crisis of trust between journalists and the public is currently very acute. And restoring this trust requires serious work on the part of journalists," sums up Dominique Wolton.
"Journalisme et post-vérité" includes contributions from Benoît Grevisse, Director of the Louvain School of Journalism, who looks at the roles journalists play in society. "Is it necessary for journalists to work for social networks?" asks Jérémie Nicey, head of the journalism degree program at the Ecole publique de journalisme in Tours, in the second chapter of the book. Stéphanie Lukasik and Marc Bassoni analyze how Didier Raoult managed to turn the world's attention on himself. The "Raoult case" is also the subject of research by Erika Riberi and Pauline Amiel, who are working at IMSIC on The national daily press challenged by a scientific controversy that has become a public controversy.
