The French law against the manipulation of information during elections and the professional practices of journalists in the face of the phenomenon of “fake news”

Résumé 0

This article proposes to analyze the consequences of the law against the manipulation of information on the journalistic production of the written press during the 2022 presidential elections in France. How have professional practices been affected by this new legal framework and what has been the perception of journalists? These questions were explored in a questionnaire sent to journalists in the field, in an observation of their everyday practices, and in ten interviews with senior media editors in France. The analysis shows that this law has had no effect in their eyes on the practice of the profession and has not contributed to reducing the amount or the extent of fake news. The journalists believe that their expertise is already strongly defined by French law and blame the wave of disinformation on social media platforms. To fight disinformation, it is their impunity that must be tackled, they claim, calling for better media literacy programs. We discuss this perception of the phenomenon by the profession and what it implies in terms of the permanence of professional practices.