Left Versus Right, or Mainstream Versus Margins? Divisions in French Media and Reactions to the ‘Brexit’ Vote

Abstract

In this chapter, we consider the extent to which the media cleavages, exposed by the Brexit vote result of the 2016 EU referendum reflect wider divisions in contemporary French politics, in a context where the mainstream ‘establishment’ appears increasingly distrusted. In particular, it will argue that the central cleavage shown is not that between left and right, but that between the mainstream and the margins. Unlike in the British case, no major French national newspaper is openly Eurosceptic, and a first section of the chapter will examine the cross-currents of this apparent consensus in the context of the 2016 EU referendum debate, using editorial content from Le Figaro (centre-right), Le Monde (centre) and Libération (centre-left). A second section examines representative media voices on the margins of the mainstream, and the terms in which their discourse on the debate challenge the pro-EU consensus.