“hallucinatory sequence”, “journalist prosecutors”: Internet users outraged by the interview with Jérôme Fourquet in “Quotidien”

According to a recent study carried out by Jérôme Fourquet for Ifop, 75% of people arrested on the sidelines of the October demonstrations had an Arab-Muslim first name. But since its publication, the survey has been called into question. Many point out the methodological limits of the figures put forward by the political scientist. Some criticize him in particular for an incomplete working method since it is based exclusively on around sixty names given in press articles.

The director of Ifop was the guest of Yann Barthès in “Quotidien” on TMC this Thursday, November 5, to explain this study. “We used this method of first names, which has been used for a while already in sociology, when SOS Racisme or others carry out testing operations,” Jérôme Fourquet first tried to explain.

But it is clear that the political scientist's explanations did not hit the mark since the debate then heated up on the set. “On the method, you can still agree that there are flaws,” Salhia Brakhlia intervened. Just giving some clues. You start your method by starting with press articles. We want to ask you what press you have read. There is opinion press. You are targeting, as we have said, Arab-Muslim or African first names. Here too, I want to tell you, what is an Arab-Muslim first name? What is an African first name? Sarah, Jasmine. Sarah, what category do you put him in? Another thing, and this is perhaps the most serious, you are basing yourselves on the first names of 70 people out of 917 immediate appearances, or 8%. We don’t even know if these people you mention, these people who have an Arab-Muslim or African first name, we don’t even know why they are appearing and especially if they have been convicted,” added the columnist.

The sequence went viral, certain personalities were quick to defend Jérôme Fourquet on social networks. “France Inter, on the other hand, is a public channel, it is not free to spread its propaganda. (My support for Jérôme Fourquet)”, defends Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, anthropologist and CNRS researcher, on X.

“The lack of statistical culture among journalists”

“Ubuesque scene where journalist prosecutors set up a media tribunal against a political scientist guilty of doing his job: trying to analyze and objectify a socio-political phenomenon. Facts are annoying, they prevent you from believing what you want,” says journalist and writer Claude Weill on 85%], or 75% ± 9.8 points. The study is therefore robust,” explains M6 host Mac Lesggy.