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THE EVOLUTION OF FRENCH POLITICAL COMMUNICATION | 155

‘professional’ communicators advising Jospin had made a lethal mistake, ‘wishful
thinking’so to speak,in believing the polls that satisfied them.

C CO ON NC CL LU US SI IO ON N: : D DI IR RE EC CT T A AN ND D I IN ND DI IR RE EC CT T E EF FF FE EC CT TS S O OF F P PR RO OF FE ES SS SI IO ON NA AL LI IS SA AT TI IO ON N O OF F P PO OL LI IT TI IC CA AL L
CONCLUSION: DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS OF PROFESSIONALIZATION OF POLITICAL
C CO OM MM MU UN NI IC CA AT TI IO ON
COMMUNICATION N
Some say that when General de Gaulle was extensively using BBC airwaves during the
Second World War to enunciate that the Free French would once more proudly
brandish the French flag on French soil, he was already and spontaneously the utmost
political communicator. To come back to a less heroic use of media by politicians, we
can clearly conclude that French Political Communication has without any doubt taken
its toll on French Politics since the mid-sixties – as in many similar democracies –
following more or less willingly the American role model of the use of modern media.

The French variation has probably been owed to the lesser amount of technical
freedom allowed by law to political communication professionals.But these regulations
have, paradoxically, even increased the role of the political communication advisors,
whose help is even more needed by campaigning politicians. The 1990 law, which was
trying to limit the excesses of modern media use by banning paid advertising during
the three last months of the campaigns, pushed professionalisation in the same way,
since the campaigns had then to be led more rigorously than ever.

But the danger of putting too much trust in professionalised political communication
ways and means is two-fold and has been clearly seen in the recent years in France.

First, since modern ‘marketed’ campaigns have been trying to reach the undecided or
non ‘politicised’ voters, or their opponents ‘fragile’ supporters, political campaigning
advisors have asked candidates to ‘depoliticise’ their communication in order to reach
them. The resulting insistence on personality instead of issue positioning, for instance The Evolution of French Political Communication: Reaching the Limits of Professionalisation?
evidenced by appearance on non-political television shows, or by a public exposure of
mundane family activities and private life, has led to a significant loss of symbolic
strength for political life which can be linked to the decrease of participation. Here, one
cannot help thinking about the wrong example given by Adlai Stevenson unnecessarily
exposing himself in a 1956 advertising television spot – he was shown coming back
from a shopping mall with huge paper shopping bags and trying to keep his
composure…

Secondly, professionalism can also fail, especially in France where public opinion polls
are less and less dependable – due to the extreme versatility of French voters, tempted
by the presence of a wider range of political parties than in many other democracies.
Campaigns are more often lost than won:‘Beware of helping professionals’,perhaps.

Lionel Jospin was then a double victim of professionalisation failures in 2002, while
Lionel Jospin, was then a double victim of professionalisation failures in 2002, while
Jacques Chirac, a victim in the 1997 parliamentary elections, won two consecutive 157