In 1979, during the second episode of the oil shocks, the news had barely finished when a new one started off with a bang.
With a serious expression, PPDA announced: "... a business flash came to us from Riyadh last night at 1:55 a.m.: Saudi Arabia is definitively ceasing all oil exports..."
Behind the presenter appeared a close-up reproduction of a fake AFP dispatch. The illusion was perfect. It was the magazine Question de temps that had decided to broadcast this entirely fictitious and particularly scary newspaper. After all, Prime Minister Raymond Barre had indeed stated, a month before, in November 1979, that "the world could be heading towards disaster". The switchboard was blocked. The public had not clearly seen the word "fiction" at the top left of the screen. The art of producing fear for the sake of crisis pedagogy.
5 years later, Christine Ockrent also reappeared after twitter data the 8pm news closed. A big surprise.
The presenter announced: "Exceptional Council of Ministers today at the Élysée. The government spokesperson has just revealed its contents..." And listed in no particular order a whole series of increases of all kinds, drastic restrictions on aid, a frightening blow to the viewers' heads. Then, the actor Yves Montand appeared. "Rest assured," he said, "this is not true. This news flash is a fake and this news is imaginary. But admit that you were scared. Because deep down, these measures, they ring true..."
The show "Vive la Crise" imagined by Pascale Breugnot on February 22, 1984 was a huge success. Here again, it was a distressing starter designed for pedagogy, no longer about an energy crisis, but THE crisis. François Mitterrand's socialist power was taking a notable economic turn. In the show, experts and specialists answered the candid comedian's questions.
In front of the camera, the latter made the following comment: " Permanent debt is over, we're going to have to pay, the crisis is serious!" (yes, already)
Since then, THE crisis has never really stopped. And with it, the media tension that accompanies it. The term anxiety-provoking appeared in medicine at the end of the 60s, and has become commonplace to point out journalists. Distrust goes hand in hand. From terrorist actions to financial crashes, from wars to mass demonstrations, and therefore from official speeches to special editions, the crisis is omnipresent. Each time, it has experienced a changing narrative in forms, astonishing in some cases, at the risk of credibility.