Sport in the French Television Magazine Programme Cinq Colonnes à la Une (1959–1968)

Abstract

During the 1960s, the rise of television as a mass medium in France went hand in hand with that of sport. Political authorities not only supported their development, but also controlled their forms and contents. Cultural history methods make it possible to formulate hypotheses concerning the influence that televised programmes may have on the viewers they are intended for. By examining the ways in which sport was exposed in an emblematic magazine programme of French television during the 1960s, entitled Cinq Colonnes à la Une, the aim is to determine its participation in the construction of a national identity. While sport made it possible to focus on the modernity of this form of media, it was also a symbol of entertainment for the viewers which helped to attract their attention relatively easily. Moreover, constructing closeness with the audience was a necessary condition in a widely viewed programme such as Cinq Colonnes à la Une for the conveyed message to reach the viewers. Such search for reality in sports reports may be interpreted as a factor facilitating the implicit diffusion of values helpful for youth resocialization through adherence to a vision of society based on work, effort, rigour and self-control.