1) What type of media sources do you use, and how do you feel about the recent explosion of new types of media?

I’m still very attached to the written press. Fundamentally, it’s part of my generation. That being said, I use more and more applications on my two smartphones and my iPad, mostly because they are so much faster and easier to consult. I am slipping, ever so gradually, towards digital. In general, I think that the evolution from written media towards the internet will most certainly destabilize the press industry, and will entirely transform the economic model. I have noticed that adolescents use the internet to inform themselves almost exclusively. It’s a good thing because they can visit websites of trusted media sources, where information has been filtered by journalists. However, they don’t necessarily visit these websites, and it’s more problematic when they are receiving information elsewhere, by chats, social networks, or by certain Internet homepages where information has not been verified and is often rumor.

So how would you qualify this abundance of information? Do we resist or do we submit?

It’s obvious that we have had to submit to this technological evolution. At the beginning, we were able to control it, but it has become bigger than us. Technology is constantly changing and advancing but our consumption habits change less quickly.

2) Do you think that these new media sources rub out inequalities of access to information?

Your question is very interesting. But I do not think that the development of media online has reduced the digital fracture. Those who are looking for information on the internet go particularly to social networks, and the rest of them (the adolescents) already have information available to them. Nothing has really been democratized.

3) With the explosion of information published online; on websites, blogs, and social networks, do you think that anyone can be a journalist?

Of course not. But unfortunately it’s a reality. Everyone can become a photographer, and everyone can now become a journalist. Look at the photojournalism industry; it’s in the process of disappearing. It’s sufficient, and even appreciated, to see photos that were taken by mobile phones in real time as action is happening. However, rapidity is becoming more important than quality. We have all seen those fake photos of Bin Laden’s death. This new route of information, that has often not been verified, poses a real problem.

4) Precisely, should we distance ourselves from this abundance of information?

It’s difficult, because we are completely carried away by it. There is currently a focus, by the media, on one specific news story a week at a time. We become completely obsessed by these artificial soap operas that have been created but we need to learn how to process them. Information is played on a loop, and the recent development and popularity of these 24-hour news channels has multiplied this phenomenon. Recently, these stories have included the nuclear explosion in Fukushima, in Japan, or the recent Arab revolutions.

5 ) Can we/should we educate people – and particularly the youth – to process this information ?

That’s a question we must ask ourselves. The democratization and the proper use of the media is not something we currently learn at school. In the past, we spoke about education in the audiovisual age, now we need to talk about education in the digital age. Adolescents need to learn how to distance themselves and not believe everything they hear, as rumors are often published as truth, without being verified.

Parents are often disconnected, and it’s in the schools that we need to be taught how to comprehend new forms of expression. A course in literature to decipher Victor Hugo no longer has the same use as before. And this is coming from a previous literature professor. The National Education system currently pursues classical methods of education and it needs to evolve. The system needs to help students understand information, not only how to observe, but also how to criticize.

6) These new forms of media are almost entirely in English. Do you believe this poses a problem for the French?

The universal language of the web is certainly English, but I wouldn’t say that the French are completely excluded. More and more, we are teaching our students English as early as primary school. However, in the official UNESCO proclamation it is asserted that we need to preserve different languages and cultures. This is the official French position. Still, it is difficult today to ignore the supremacy of English at the international level, and online. The English language is the intermediary language of communication.

7) Does modernity, created by these new forms of media, make people happy?

This is a very difficult question. And I don’t think that the new generation even asks themselves this question, because for them it’s a way of life. For older generations, it’s less clear. Recently, I read an article that people are refusing to become slaves to their hi-tech gadgets. It’s true that having two or three cell phones isn’t going to make people happy. But I find that is does grant a certain freedom from work and make our lives a bit easier. For example, a government employee such as myself, who in the past has been very attached to their desk, has new tools that allow him to work anywhere. Fifteen minutes ago, for example, I was in the gardens of the Palais Royal responding to emails. No one will know that I was in the garden and not in my office, and to me, that’s incredibly appealing.

Interview conducted by Smart Agency: Isabelle Moreau and Elizabeth Fetsch.

Biography

Patrick Olivier, General Inspection Chief of Cultural Affairs in the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, has spent the majority of his career, after graduating from the l’Ecole Nationale d’Administration (National Administration School) in the sector of international cultural and audiovisual exchange: UNESCO, university exchanges, creation of services for international affairs at the ministry, as well as the direction of a European Organisation in Brussels (EUREKA audiovisual). A tenured professor at the University of Paris-Dauphine, he also works as a research professor, notably as an associate professor in the Master 2 program “Management of Cultural Organization” for students seeking to work as professionals in cultural organizations.