Is Communication Separable From Information?

International audienceThe aim of this paper is to present the French approach to Information and Communication, and to sketch out some arguments pro and con for their amalgamation into a unique scientific body. Since its creation in 1975, the French academic field of Information-Communication has proved several advantages in the development of a new scientific corpus, but also some drawbacks. These are going to be reviewed and the question will be posed on the opportunity to generalize that model or to abandon it. The research concludes that a dichotomy between information and communication is certainly not representative of the French field of information and communication; it would rather be a continuum or a multi-polar space. Furthermore it is suspected that Anglo-Saxon separation of information science from communication science is not clear either. International comparison and research program in information - communication are advocated.L'approche française des sciences de l'information et de la communication est relativement "exceptionnelle" dans la mesure où ces deux champs forment une seule discipline contrairement aux pratiques étrangères, notamment amglo-saxones, où ces champs sont séparés. L'article traite du positionnement épistémologique, socioligque et culturel de cette exception française. Il s'appuie sur une analyse des thèmes des 850 thèses publiées en France depuis la création de la 71° section du Cnu. Il conclut que plutôt qu'une opposition il s'agit d'un continuum multidimensionnel entre information et communication