regulation of pluralism in france. context, analysis and interpretation

This article offers a historical and up-to-date study of the media regulation in France with regards to the protection of pluralism. To this end, the article presents a study on the French legal framework for the media, which is complemented with the opinions of scholars, journalists, trade union representatives, members of public organizations regulating the media, and relevant figures with expertise in the media sector in France. The views of these actors were obtained through a series of in-depth interviews conducted in Paris in July 2008 and December 2009. The study reveals that the legal framework, which uses multiple mechanisms and instruments to guarantee pluralism, both external (mainly, corporate concentration) and internal (media contents), is highly complex, vast, difficult, and almost impossible to apply. The study suggests that the French legal framework is a top example of inefficient hyper-regulation, which the author sees as a result of the ferocious battle between the two strongest modern forces in France: the egalitarian democratic values, based on solidarity and deeply rooted in the historical tradition of the French Republic; and the neoliberal capitalism based on the ideas of material accumulation and individualism.