• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.185-226
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• 2022

This study examines the crisis of trust of French journalism in the context of a global decline of media credibility. First of all, in the process of a huge social movement called the 'yellow vest' movement that started in 2018, distrust of the French journalism was expressed in an extreme form. This study examines some external factors in terms of the historical development of the French journalism and the public's long-standing 'criticism of journalism'. Specifically, this study first examines the quantitative indicators of trust of French journalism which were shown in Digital News Report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Next, it examines the historical and institutional formation process of French journalism and public distrust that emerged along with it. And specifically, the structural crisis-economic crisis, digital transformation and intensification of competition, and deterioration of quality problems etc.-of the French journalism exposed in media coverage on social movement in 2018 is review in relation with the working process or 'routine' of actual news production. In conclusion, this study asserts that the various aspects of internal rifts in French journalism system, as well as external shocks (the influence of social movements), are a key factor in explaining the recent decline of trust in French journalism.