« Faut-il brûler le CNRS ? »

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« Must the CNRS be burnt? » The Image of CNRS in the Media This article, constructed from the study of press articles and radio and television broadcasts, presents the image of the CNRS in the media from its creation to the present. Two themes are developed: first, the manner in which scientific research is presented in the media, showing how journalists broach the work of researchers; and second, the media representation of the CNRS, which recounts the criticisms formulated against this institution judged as being archaic, spendthrift and antiquated. Radio, television and the press closely associate scientific research with that which journalists consider its final purpose: discovery. Certain typical images recur frequently: Newton’s apple, Archimedes’ bathtub, etc. The history of the CNRS is often reduced to a few famous names and major discoveries such as Frédéric Joliot’s pile reactor and Alfred Kastler’s optical pumping. This choice made by the media lies within a wider logic: journalists’ attempt to dramatize science, to make a show of it in order to capture the public’s attention. However, their work is not free of contradictions. They distrust the complex discourse of researchers, yet at the same time they often call on their own expertise to explain developments in the news. As for the CNRS, it has suffered a decrease in renown since 1968. Before, it had been presented as « a success France can be proud of ». Afterwards, it became the target of repeated attacks in the media. Journalists have accused it of having transformed itself into an « administrative, political and trade union fortress » and a « civil service diplodocus ». According to these critics, on the one hand the organization doesn’t respond to the expectations of a society to whom it costs too much money, and on the other hand its opposition to change poses a handicap for the work of the researchers it employs. The efficiency of American research is often cited as an example in the face of a CNRS that no one could reform. And journalists questioned with provocation: « Must we burn the CNRS? » This article aims to stress the fundamental incompatibility between the preoccupations of the media and the mission of an organism such as the CNRS: the former addresses the issues of everyday life whereas the latter, through its vocation of managing an entire section of public research, anchors itself in the long term. The eternal debate between the sprinter and the long-distance runner.