April, 2017 - Emmanuel Macron and his media strategy

Laura Calabrese, Research Center in Information and Communication (ReSIC)

Laura Calabrese, what communication strategies did Emmanuel Macron implement during the presidential election?

Macron's main strategy is to present himself as a ‘neither-nor’ candidate: neither left-wing, nor right-wing, but also both at the same time. This means avoiding sectarian speech as much as possible, and attempting to reconcile opposites. For instance, he promotes both protectionism and free trade, both secularism and religious freedom. Emmanuel Macron offers a ‘third way’, which, on the one hand, sets himself apart from other candidates, and, on the other hand, allows him to counter extremist statements, which were especially present during this campaign. His message is one of balance, measure, unity. From the election's results, it is obvious that it was the right strategy at the time.

What's more, he did not follow the patterns of traditional political discourse, and made a point to avoid politically-loaded language. Instead, he heavily relies on abstract positive concepts such as ‘confidence’, ‘future’, ‘build’, ‘carry’, or ‘commitment’. He also draws from corporate jargon, with words like ‘investment’, ‘transformation’, ‘innovation’, ‘revolution’, ‘project’, ‘dynamism’, etc. As a start-up candidate, he is fond of the semantic field of change, initiative, and effort, with an overall emphasis on optimism.

Emmanuel Macron formally became President on May 14, 2017. Did his communication then change?

Not much, but certain topics featured in his campaign did disappear, such as the zero-tolerance policy, while new ones emerged. For instance, President Macron mentions global warming much more often than candidate Macron: at the time, this topic would not have helped set him apart from his rivals; but it has now become a way to show France's position in the international community, especially in contrast to President Trump's climate policies. A more dramatic change could be observed in his paternalistic attitude, which became more obvious after the legislative election. In Bucharest, he declared that the French were reform-adverse, and that one must explain to them what the long-term strategy is and ask them to undergo a fundamental transformation for the benefit of a project larger than themselves.

He also talks to the media much less, although he has announced a change in his strategy.

Many have said he has ‘locked down’ his communication: nothing is said off the record, the ministers never make addresses after their weekly meetings, and during visits the President only talks about the reason for his visit. This vertical communication strategy sets a new tone compared to his predecessors. Previously, the political discourse had become ubiquitous, with sound bites constantly being fed to the media; Macron's project is to restore dignity to a president's office that had lost some of its credibility. While this communication strategy may puzzle certain journalists, it also lends more weight to their political commentary, which had been taken over by a succession of sound bites. For the President, however, this strategy has its limits: in a time of reforms, technical issues should be understood by citizens, which involves promoting a political project and communicating to the public.

Another idea that should be followed up on is the majority party’s plan to launch its own media platform. This could create a confusion between information (what journalists do) and communication (what politicians and advertisers do). In the current context, it is important to stress that political discourse, whose goal is to convince, must be contextualised, fact-checked, put into perspective. A widely-accepted trend today is the blurring of this distinction (including with online social networks, which are major contributors to this phenomenon), giving the illusion of a direct line of communication between citizens and politicians, which in turn devalues the role of journalists.

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