The narrative battle over France’s unrest

The Listening PostStudent protests, police violence and French media obsessed with 'barbarians'.What began as protests over education has rapidly taken over the streets of France and turned into one of the country’s biggest waves of unrest in years.Many mainstream media outlets have focused their coverage on the violence and looting rather than on the demands of the demonstrators. A lot of airtime has fixated on who the protesters are and what they look like, often using racist terms. That narrative has been picked up by right-wing movements abroad.Contributors: Cole Stangler – author, Paris Is Not Dead, and lecturer, American College of the Mediterranean Diane de Vignemont – Paris-based journalist Harrison Stetler – lecturer and writer Philippe Marliere – professor of French and European politics, University College LondonOn our radarIsrael’s elections are just days away and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reverted to a familiar alarmist tactic to consolidate support: hyping an “imminent” threat from Iran and telling the United States that it should “finish the job”. Meenakshi Ravi looks at the messaging.Olga Rudenko: Independent journalism is the ‘ultimate patriotic act’Mor...