At PdF France, La Netscouade’s co-founder Benoît Thieulin analysed the role of the web in the French public debate in the past ten years and explained how it will be shaped in 2012.
As I wrote on Monday, “Compared to other European countries, the French blogosphere has a relatively long history. In 2005 the adoption of a European Constitution was rejected by French voters and the “no” campaign was conducted also in the blogosphere, against the urgings of many in the political class to vote “yes”. This event eventually led blogs to become rising voices in the French political conversation.”
Thieulin argued in his talk that this was a seminal event. The birth of a system of new voices in the public debate scared journalists with the disruption of the media scenario they were used to, and in which they were the unquestioned leaders.
But, he added, the rise of these new voices also led politicians to create a direct dialogue with citizens on the web in the following years.
