In France, representative democracy is experiencing a growing mistrust that also affects the media. The latter are facing major simultaneous challenges:

• a disruption of their business model in the digital age;
• a dependence on social networks and search engines to gain visibility;
• increased competition due to the convergence of content on digital media (competition between text, video and audio on the Internet);
• increased competition due to the emergence of actors exercising their influence independently from the media (politicians, bloggers, comedians, etc.).

In the United States, these developments have contributed to the polarization of the public square, characterized by the radicalization of the conservative press, with significant impact on electoral processes.

Institut Montaigne investigated whether a similar phenomenon was at work in France. To this end, it led an in-depth study in partnership with the Sciences Po Médialab, the Sciences Po School of Journalism as well as the MIT Center for Civic Media. It also benefited from data collected and analyzed by the Pew Research Center*, in their report News Media Attitudes in France.

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