Jimbo wrote:
For example, a British newspaper distributed in France
was fined for
calling Jacques Chirac a worm. That's an inexcusable violation of
human rights on the part of the French government, but it doesn't seem
likely to cause us any trouble since we srupulously avoid making ALL
controversial claims. We would, of course, report on the flap, in a
neutral manner, but French law is not (to my knowledge) an obstacle to
that.
Are you sure of that? I remember the "worm"
incident. The Sun, a British tabloid owned by
Rupert Murdoch, carried a front-page, full-page
illustration in which they doctored to a photo of
Chirac's head by putting it on a worm's body. The
only mention of a fine that I can find, however,
is the following report in the Guardian:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,900093,00.html
This report says that the Sun "could be forced to
pay a £30,000 fine," noting that the French
capital is "unused to a press that taunts
politicians so openly. ... The tabloid's
controversial stance breaks a French law that
makes it a criminal offence to insult the
president. Breaking the law carries a fine up
45,000 euros." However, it doesn't say that a
fine was actually levied or that anyone even
attempted to do so. This story was then picked up
in "Little Green Footballs," a pro-war,
conservative blog, which complained that "the Sun
will be fined 30,000 pounds" because of the
stunt. However, LGF's only source is the Guardian
article:
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=5641
If someone wants to criticize the French law, I'd
have no problem with that (just as I'd have no
problem with someone criticizing England's
repressive libel law). In practice, however,
British libel laws don't prevent the tabloids
from engaging in reckless and often obnoxious
journalism, and the same is probably true in
France. The mere fact that a law is on the books
doesn't mean that it is always (or even often)
enforced.
The "worm" incident is probably just one more
example of the Murdoch media's habit of acting
like jerks and then pretending they've been
persecuted for it when they haven't.
--
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| Sheldon Rampton
| Editor, PR Watch (
www.prwatch.org)
| Author of books including:
| Friends In Deed: The Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities
| Toxic Sludge Is Good For You
| Mad Cow USA
| Trust Us, We're Experts
| Weapons of Mass Deception
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