Paper short abstract:

The 2012 presidential election in Senegal can be examined as an example of the impact of transnational journalism as a bridge between a diaspora and its country of origin. The study of the campaign coverage by expatriate journalists allows to catch a glimpse of the mutual influences at work.

Paper long abstract:

The broad movement of democratization at work in Africa since the 1990's has transformed political order throughout the continent in diverse ways : not only has it implied the adoption of multi-party systems and free, monitored elections, but in many cases, it has also allowed expatriate citizens to vote from their host countries. Senegal can be examined as an example of this shift : in 1993, under pressure from the international community, Abdou Diouf's government did indeed adopt a major reform to democratize the electoral processes, which allowed the Senegalese living abroad to make their voices count (Vengroff, 2007).

In this context, one can wonder about the role that Senegalese journalists, working in France for traditional newspapers, television stations or Internet medias, played during the late 2012 presidential campaign. Through an ethnographic study of their practices, from production to reception, it is possible to shed a light on their daily work as press correspondents, and to draw an accurate picture of the constraints and choices they had to face everyday (Frère, 2000). As a bridge between Senegalese diaspora and its country of origin, they strongly influenced the outcome of the campaign, despite deontological (Lemieux, 2010) and technological issues (Coumba-Diop, 2002). By consolidating the very idea of « diaspora » (Dufoix, 2003 ; Sheffer, 2003), by increasing mutual interactions between interlaced social groups, they modified the electoral behavior of African migrants, and triggered simultaneities at the heart of the voting processes between in France and Senegal that deserve closer studies.

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