19 Apr 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
France: A Paris court has fined the France 24 news channel for reporting press rumours that first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was having an affair with a French pop singer. Judges ordered the publicly-funded television channel to pay 3,000 euros to the singer in question, Benjamin Biolay, following a ruling that the coverage violated his privacy. On April 6, it was reported that President Sarkozy has ordered a “campaign of terror” to punish those responsible for rumours which circulated last month on supposed tit-for-tat, extra-marital affairs by the French first couple reported in Britain and Switzarland. Lawyers for France 24 argued that it that exceptional level of international coverage made it a legitimate story to include in their press review. The court rejected this defence.
08 Mar 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The Cote d’Ivoire government suspended transmission of the broadcaster France 24 last week citing the agency’s biased reporting of political unrest in the West African country. The National Council for Audiovisual Communication scrambled the French station’s signal on 22 February and said that it will remain blocked until further notice. This followed France 24’s coverage of an incident in the western city of Gagnoa, where government forces killed five demonstrators protesting against President Laurent Gbagbo’s decision to disband the government and electoral commission. Robert Mahoney, Deputy Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, urged the authorities to reverse this ban and “refrain from censorship”.
15 Feb 10 | Index Index, minipost
France’s has fast-tracked a law allowing the government to block websites. Amendments seeking judicial oversight and clauses specifying pages not sites should be blocked were rejected. The law has been classified as urgent, bypassing the normal four readings in parliament, and will go to the senate for a final vote next week.
08 Dec 08 | Comment, News and features
The treatment of Vittorio Filippis, former publisher of Libération,
signals the deteriorating situation for the media in France. Natasha Lehrer reports
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