The space of economic journalism in France

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the problem of the independence of journalism in relation to the economy, from the analysis of the subspace of economic journalism in the late 1990s, in France. By an analysis of multiple correspondences, we demonstrate the structure of this subspace. The dominant position of a journalism that accumulates attributes of professionalism, even though it is done in companies that depends on the economic field, shows itself as one of the most important characteristics of the space. Complementary analyzes, based on supplementary variables and post-factorial exploration, confirm what the structure of the space showed: the content of the pages and economic subsections in the media owe its existence to the demand for practical information, which comes from the “economic agents”, particularly from executives and decision makers. One last part highlights the transformations of the last twenty years, which have had a great impact on relevant newspapers, exploring their contribution to the understanding of the current state of economic journalism, characterized by its low autonomy.