A snapshot, by definition, is a photograph of a moment. Instagram is the perfect social network for this. It's a way, in a very short time, to see what your loved ones or favorite celebrities are doing with their days, their vacations, their evenings. How they experience these moments of everyday life. It's also a way to compare our lives to theirs: What are they doing today while I'm not having an exciting day? In short, it shows what the person chooses to reveal about themselves through a fleeting moment of photos and very short captions. A few seconds of life.
Long-form journalism is the complete opposite. Spanning 13, 26, 45, 52, or even 90 minutes, it tackles a complex, contradictory question. It attempts to shed light on a global controversy, providing key elements for our understanding of events, sometimes with the absolutely necessary benefit of hindsight. This extended timeframe also allows for the development of a portrait of a political or historical figure, or even an ordinary person, transforming them into a recognized personality.
The fleeting moment cannot satisfy our intellectual needs
A social media user feels like they're stepping into their idol's life for a few seconds because they're shown a few behind-the-scenes clips or glimpses into their dining room. And yet, if a channel or platform announces an exclusive report on that celebrity, our user will eagerly watch the full report, comfortably seated on their sofa with a TV dinner. They'll even transform that moment into a magical one, wanting to preserve and savor every second. We've all experienced this feeling, and yet we all consume social media all day long. It seems to me that social networks have certainly become a part of our lives, but we all know that it's a fleeting and superficial experience. We skim an idea, we switch channels, we only concentrate for a few seconds. Our intellectual needs remain unfulfilled.
For all these reasons, long-form journalism has a bright future and will continue to thrive. Recently, at an event organized by a local media outlet in the south of France, the former presenter of "Complément d'enquête" was asked precisely about this issue. Jacques Cardoze He tried to be very reassuring. According to him "The more people use social media, the more they will demand long-form magazines. Because this instant information raises far more questions than it answers." How much of what I read is fake news? he added. And what if this worst-case scenario I'm being told about regarding climate change isn't fiction?
On complex topics, the internet acts like a buzzer, an alert in the mind of the information consumer. They file this information away somewhere in their brain, until the day they want answers. And short of thorough investigation, nothing can stop them, whether that investigation takes the form of a book or an audiovisual magazine.
The evolution of long-term programming at France Télévisions.
While the format of the evening program "Envoyé Spécial," broadcast at 21 p.m. on Thursdays without fail for 40 years, has never changed since its creation by Paul Nahon and Bernard Benyamin, Élise Lucet's "Cash Investigation" arrived about twenty years ago. And the length of the "Compléments d'enquête" program created by... Benoit Duquesne The format has evolved. Originally, in 2001, Benoit Duquesne envisioned a four-part, 15-minute segment on a single theme. Gradually, the program eliminated one of the four reports each evening to allow more time for in-depth exploration of the other topics. Then, under Jacques Cardoze's leadership between 2018 and 2021, the "Complément d'enquête" program shifted from three 17-minute segments to two 26-minute segments or a single 52-minute episode. This shift, too, reflected a desire to provide more precise answers to the evening's central issue. All these indicators clearly demonstrate that television viewers need more time to understand the world around them.
