60

During the first French lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 crisis, television channels had to shake up their programming schedules, not only to anticipate the effect of the crisis on their offerings, but also in a more tactical sense. In this paper, we will try to show, through the analysis of TF1, France 2, and M6’s posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, that the positive values that characterize their messages during this period made it possible to make television a sort of “carer” for the French, who were confined to their homes at the time. We will observe how the social function of television was thus reinforced, in particular by the circulation of discourses that promoted collective viewing, mainly through the lens of the home, positioning television presenters as close as possible to their audiences.