Overseas Territories in the French Media

In this blog about the French overseas territories, a group of Lille University master's students present a range of reports from the French media concerning the issues facing people in some of the country's former colonies. English versions of the articles, complete with glossaries and notes, provide an insight into how the French media are treating a range of sometimes controversial topics.

Manon Mella reports for public radio station France Inter on the concerns of a large number of students at universities in the greater Paris region who are to be forcably relocated, sometimes almost as soon as the semester has finished, so that their halls of residence can be used as Olympic accommodation.

The website of national broadcaster Radio France reports on the accusations made by the mayor of Orléans of a covert strategy to relocate Parisian homeless people to his city in the runup to the Olympics, which he says has not included any material support for the social challenges created by the sudden influx.

Guillaume Dussourt and Ameline Lavechin, writing for the website of radio station RMC, report on the dismay of representatives of Parisian hoteliers and restaurateurs at the proliferation of negative messaging about the social impact of the Olympics, which they warn could have an adverse effect on their businesses.

Against a backdrop of ongoing tensions between farmers and the French authorities, cereal producers in the Paris region are warning of economic catastrophe if the security plan to ban freight traffic on the Seine for the opening week of the Olympic Games is followed by a programme of substantial restrictions during the harvest season: Barthélémy Philippe reports for Europe 1.

After French fencer, Ysoara Thibus received a positive drug test, Romain Donneux, writing in sports daily l'Equipe, provides some background information about the controlled substance Enobosarm, the increasingly widespread use of which presents a threat to the integrity of the Paris 2024 games.

Sports daily L'Equipe reveals a report by the French broadcast communications regulator suggesting that audiences in the country for women's sports and parasports are bigger than assumed, and likely to be improved even further by the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics.

Controversy has surrounded the organisation of the surfing competition for Paris 2024, which is to be held in Tahiti. Plans to build a new judges' tower in the coral reef have been met with considerable local and international opposition. This article in Le Monde marks the announcement of a smaller construction: a compromise which should allow the event to go ahead in the original venue.

Eugénie Boilait, writing in Le Figaro, reports on the campaign launched in October by a collective of French NGOs denouncing the forced displacement of vulnerable communities in the runup to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In this blog about the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, a group of Lille University master's students present a range of reports from the French media concerning the debates surrounding the organisation of the summer games. English versions of the articles, complete with glossaries and notes, provide an insight into how the French media are treating a range of sometimes controversial topics.