A notable difference between these two lists is that, while Toulouse students mostly mention broad subjects that are not restricted to France, Bowdoin students predominantly focus on subjects of U. S. politics, particularly Donald Trump. I think that this domestic focus of Bowdoin students is largely attributable to the almost unprecedented level of concern for the direction in which our political institutions are leading the country at this moment. Of course, because of the United States’ position as the most powerful nation in the world, the actions of these political institutions have broad, critical international implications, and for this reason, we see certain Toulouse students also point to the Trump presidency as one of the most controversial topics in the news today.

Il est clair qu’en Amérique le sujet de Donald Trump est ultra-dominant, mais en France aussi on en parle, et je suis d’ailleurs surprise que ce ne soit pas plus mentionné. Dans les réponses françaises, on parle beaucoup des inégalités dans la société actuelle alors qu’en Amérique un peu moins. Est-ce parce que c’est moins important ? Ou est-ce seulement caché par le poids des réponses sujets à Trump ?

Les médias passent beaucoup de temps à parler de sujets peu importants par rapport aux sujets de fonds. Donald Trump en est la preuve, car dans le fond ce qui est le plus important est d’essayer de comprendre pourquoi les Américains l’ont élu, et que faire pour améliorer les USA et aider leur citoyens. Comme dit SionedK les sujets d’inégalités sont souvent couverts.

The students in Toulouse seem to be more concerned with more broad subjects (sexual harassment and immigration), whereas the students at Bowdoin are more focused on things that pertain specifically to America (the president).

Perhaps France is less self-centered than America because it is a smaller nation. When you live in a bigger country, there are more journalists and people generating news. Also, America has a reputation for being very vocal about issues.

I wonder how students in Toulouse feel about this dynamic. Would you prefer more international recognition from the media (perhaps more attention from the US), or would you rather less of a presence of US politics in France?

I think these responses are really concerning. The subjects Bowdoin students picked are so America centered there is very little acknowledgment of topics outside of the US. There is a much larger variety of subjects that the students from Toulouse picked. I don’t exactly know why that is. Are the students from Toulouse just more tuned into global news? This is just a thought and I’d be interested to hear what others think. Donald Trump is mentioned a few times (compared to 19 times on the American side), but so is climate change, feminism, agriculture, vegetarian/vegan, immigration, terrorism, etc. I would also be interested to know more about what sorts of opinions the students in Toulouse have about immigration and refugees.

In answer to SionedK’s question about whether the inequalities in society are not important to Americans: I think inequality is a very important issue in the US today, but it is addressed through movements like Black Lives Matter, and #MeToo, through social media and not necessarily through the news media as much. The US news media often sensationalizes the news to get their audience’s attention, and report on topics that are the most shocking. Since the election of Trump, the news media have no need to sensationalize - Trump’s crazy tweets, erratic behavior, and narcissistic speeches are shocking enough. Many Americans are outraged by the Trump administration, so the news media capitalize on that. Also, to jnora’ s point, I think Americans have less exposure to world news outlets like the BBC and The World and might not seek those out when CNN and Fox News are so easy to access. These domestic news outlets create a very America-centric, isolationist, single-issue culture. And the news cycle in the US is so short, there is little opportunity to examine an issue in detail. Do the French get more in-depth reporting on issues, as well discussion of a wider variety of issues?

I thought it was interesting how every American student said that Trump (or something related to Trump) is the most controversial topic in the news. Instead of naming a specific politician, the Toulouse students instead used the broader term of “la politique.” Also, the Toulouse students did not seem as concerned with politics, and discussed broader topics. Does French media tend to focus more on broad issues rather than individual people?

I was curious that only one person on each side mentioned something along the lines of freedom of speech/expression. In the United States, this right is constantly at the bottom of controversies in the media, but not necessarily covered directly. From what I have followed in French media, this has been a very important topic in the past few years with the attack on Charlie Hebdo serving as a climactic example. Has this been discussed less in France in more recent years?