French Television News: Practices of Encoding and Theories of Trivialisation.

This study examines one aspect of the television medium--television news and its encoding practices--that was expected to be affected by changes instituted when socialists took office in France in 1981. It is noted that this government's legal reform advocated a more decentralized system of governance and a liberalization of the state monopoly on television broadcasting. A comparison is made of the respective encoding practices of two French television channels, and the issue of trivialization is addressed as a more complex affair than mere packaging and presentation, i.e., one that assists in the passing of a fairly constant institutional message. The research methodology involved recording and analyzing a week of simultaneous materials offered by the two channels on their 8 pm news programs. The results of the analyses showed that: (1) the dominant ideology is present in and represented by both channels; (2) often identical myths are erected; (3) where initially there appears to be a choice in terms of message, ultimately there is not; and (4) the absence of investigative journalism means inevitably that there is only a series of reflections that are institutionally bound. It is concluded that news information remains, as before 1981, the prerogative of the state, and that there is little reason to expect this sovereignty to be relinquished. (3 end notes) (CGD)