Paris — At first glance, the office looks like the office of any video production starter — modern furniture, video game consoles, Buzz Lightyear action figures, and no one over the age of 30. In fact, it is one of the most successful new news rooms in France.
From here, Hugo Tradition, who often wears hoodies and sneakers, posts the day’s top stories to a huge number of viewers on YouTube and other social platforms, using videos and texts. Reach young people all over France who are increasingly avoiding traditional media.
“This generation grew up on social media,” Travers, known online as Hugo Décrypte or Hugo Deciphers at the age of 25, said in an interview. “They don’t start reading newspapers or watching news on TV at 30 o’clock.”
With 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube’s main channel, 2 million followers on Instagram, and 2.4 million followers on TikTok, Hugo Décrypte has become a major news source for young people in France. Traverse interviewed Bill Gates, French President Emmanuel Macron, and 10 of the 12 candidates for this year’s presidential election.
According to one poll, his success comes from creating several imitators and dropping interest in news among young French people to the lowest level in 20 years. According to another study, people between the ages of 18 and 29 could be considered to be doing a better job of getting the press to understand the facts correctly and cover all the important articles of the day than the elderly. It is said that the sex is low.
Justine Ryst, Managing Director of YouTube France, said:
While Traverse and other YouTuber methods have helped reach many new viewers who may not otherwise find news sources, they still pose significant challenges to French journalism and news literacy. Some critics say it will bring.
According to media analysts, this vast amount of online content for the audience also contributes to the confusion and confusion about what news is and what is false information.
“The difficulty is the increase in YouTubers,” said Elena Pavel, a history and geography teacher at College Georges Rouault, a junior high school in a low-income area of Paris, and coordinator of Clemi, an educational institution’s media literacy program. increase. Ministry.
Young people “do not distinguish between YouTubers of opinion and YouTubers of news at all,” she added, citing the risk of misinformation and conspiracy theories spreading.
Still, she said she didn’t hesitate to recommend Mr. Traverse to her students.
Travers, a talkative and hilarious graduate of Sciences Po, an elite university in Paris, felt a contradiction between how news is traditionally distributed to the public and how young people consume information on YouTube in 2015. He said he started the channel. half. I decided to create a new kind of newscast with serious content for that young audience.
He said he tried to present a nonpartisan view and insisted on high journalism standards.
Others have followed his lead, such as Gaspard Guermonprez, 24, who runs a similar account on YouTube and Instagram under the name Gaspard G.
“Today, we have far more content than entertainment and lifestyle content,” Guermonprez said.
Travers and Guermonprez have set up their own company to help employees create and produce content. They both did extensive work in this year’s presidential and legislative elections, analyzed the platform, and interviewed candidates.
Mr. Travers to two presidential candidates, Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, and Jean Lassalle, a central right-wing politician who claims to represent “deep France” ignored by the urban elite. The interview is one of the 10 most watched. A video about the elections in French on YouTube.
Media analysts attribute Travers’ popularity to understanding what his ability as a digital native is appealing to young people.
“He’s approaching the audience with his speech and presence. He wears a T-shirt instead of a suit,” said Lisa Bolts, a researcher at Selsa, a school of communication and journalism at the University of Sorbonne. ..
Océane Pan, a 16-year-old high school student who was waiting in line to study at a library in Paris last Saturday, said she was mostly informed through Instagram and YouTube’s Hugo Décrypte. She said she liked his content because “he always reads the comments below his video and tries to deal with negative feedback.”
“Dialogue with my followers is essential,” said Travers. He quoted the case of exchanging YouTube videos introducing the platform of left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon. His audience seemed to have few suggestions focused on such things as legalizing cannabis and reducing the voting age to 16 years. The new video instead focused on Mr. Melenchon’s economic program.
Guermonprez said one challenge he faced was to reach a wider range of young French. Based on the research he conducted, he said his followers were mainly young adults from a privileged background.
“We are aware of our prejudices and do not want to defeat the privileged urban problems of the majority of the French,” he said. “The important thing is the tone and delivery of the content. This can still be improved.”
Media analysts say it is becoming increasingly important to provide political news that keeps young viewers interested, as interest in politics appears to be diminishing in France. In the second round of this year’s presidential election, 41% of people aged 18 to 24 abstained from voting, more than any other age group surveyed. Also, 75% of 18-24 year olds skipped voting in the first round of the June 12 parliamentary elections.
YouTuber was skeptical of traditional media when it started. (There was “contempt,” Traverse said.) However, Germon Press, who attended a Canadian business school, made great strides in finding the most effective means of delivering news. , Said they proved themselves.
“Tomorrow, media brands will be faces, not logos,” Guermonprez said.
Ryst of YouTube France said one of the benefits of News YouTuber’s success was that French digital publishers had more and more reporters appearing in their videos and viewers felt connected to them. ..
Still, many media analysts disagree on whether YouTuber efforts like Travers and Guermonprez are serious journalism.
Researcher Bolts said uploading a summary of Travers’s “Today’s News” cannot be considered journalism. But she admitted that journalism was “an ever-evolving profession.”
Traverse admitted that the lines were “blurred,” but added, “I don’t think this is a problem.”
Both Travers and Guermonprez cite their ethical code and news gathering methods, where the editorial team is made up of professional journalists who maintain high standards.
However, Guermonprez said that many people in France have not yet accepted the fact that the world of news has changed.
“Maybe it’s part of French neurosis,” he said. “It takes time to embrace change.”