Anthere wrote:
I spent a good while looking for a reference that would support the claim the government threatened the sun of the 45000 euros fine.
In french, the number of references I found is laughable. In short, the topic is not mentionned but by a couple of blog and forum. French just do not know of that law, which is a good measure of how refrained in their freedom of speech they feel. Also, some discussions mentionning the law and the fine, indicated that some people thought The Sun attack was a two level construction First : insulting the president very badly Second : spreading the word this is illegal to do so, hence that no freedom of speech is allowed in France.
That sounds likely, in light of some further reading. It seems that the Sun were both trying to insult the President, and also trying to get themselves sued for it, which would've been very good for their public relations most likely. In fact, after they didn't get sued for the "Chirac is a worm" one, they tried an even more outrageous story in which they caricatured Chirac as Saddam Hussein's prostitute, and their accompanying text seems similarly goading: "Last month we accused Chirac of behaving like a worm. Today we say to the people of France: we did not go far enough. Your president is not just a worm. He has behaved like a Paris harlot." (http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,918987,00.html).
Which all makes it somewhat odd that the law still exists. If it's not going to be enforced even in such egregious cases as this, why not just repeal it?
-Mark