Le chercheur, l’événement et les médias

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the conditions in which academic opinions are expressed in the media field. Whether in the context of post September 11, 2001 or that of the Arab revolutions, we observe a similar tendency to essentialise “Islam” and “Muslim” by many journalists as well as by other participants in the debate (experts, politicians…). Whereas social scientists are not always immune to interests outside the scientific approach, they still try to distance themselves from common sense in defining the categories they use and using social sciences’ methodological tools. But once they are put on the spot in media debates, they end up on the defensive and are forced to react to analyses whose wording or production conditions they do not approve. The media experience often becomes a stress test, even a dilemma as the researcher must weigh the risk of losing a means of popularization offered by the media, against the risk of diluting or even neutralizing his word.

Keywords

• Islam
• Islamism
• violence
• terrorism
• media
• television