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The Rumours of JournalismUniversity of Paris-Sorbonne Applying the characterization of rumour to designate transmission of unconfirmed information or to designate political initiatives reflecting a particular configuration is a way of indicating that certain contradictory items of information are in circulation, but does not allow these to be related back to the political circumstances that are determining them. The journalistic preoccupation with rumour thus leads to the media becoming blinded to the political significance implicit in such information exchanges. As a consequence, the narrative content of this type of information, whether or not it resembles that which is carried by certain forms of rumour, may effectively escape the central focus of the media treatment, which could open up a more political perception of these same exchanges. If, by limiting itself to doing no more than relay rumours, the press thus avoids taking part in the political game which conditions this information, it nevertheless fails to bring out the flavour of this game and to deconstruct the focal effect sought after. The rumours of journalism are a political resource for the participants associated with them who are involved in a much broader political process which cannot be reduced to the simple dimension of rumour.
Diogenes, Vol. 54, No. 1,
107-124 (2007) |
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