The spectrum of illiberalism in French media

This article offers the first analysis of illiberal content in France’s most widely distributed traditional media. It conceptualizes illiberalism along a cultural dimension, defined by the construction of an opposition between an ethnically homogeneous national majority and a threatening minority and a constitutional dimension, characterized by calls for illiberal measures to protect liberal democracy. Through frame analysis of the 2016 burkini controversy and the 2020 Nice attack, it identifies a spectrum of illiberal content across French media outlets. Illiberal framing is most pronounced in Le Figaro , moderate in Le Monde and limited in television newscasts. The dominant register is cultural: Islam and immigration are conflated and cast as incompatible with the French nation. Le Figaro is distinctive in that its illiberal framing is not merely relayed from far-right political actors but actively produced by its own journalists and regular contributors.