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