Non to citizen journalism France may make citizen journalism on the Internet a risky business, punishing the filming and broadcast of images of violence except by professional journalists. Pending legislation provides for up to five years of prison and a 75,000 Euro fine for someone who, for example, films rioters on his cell phone and uploads the footage to YouTube. The rationale for the law, according to Interior Minister (and conservative presidential candidate) Nicolas Sarkozy, is to crack down on so-called “happy slapping“. But the law would also cover images of violence “committed by an agent of the state in the exercise of his duties”–in other words, videotapes like the famous beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police. Cynics point out that the legislation would allow Sarkozy to pursue his goal of cleaning up the “banlieues,” as he promised his constituents he would, while diminishing the circulation of shocking images of confrontations between rioters and police. Triangulation French-style While Nicolas Sarkozy may be the most pro-American candidate for the French presidency in some time, last week he tacked back towards the Chirac side of his party. While presenting his Foreign Policy program in a “grand hotel parisien,” the UMP’s candidate said: “I approve the policies undertaken over the past twelve years by Jacques Chirac.” He singled out for approval Chirac’s decision to keep France out of the Iraq war, “which was a historical mistake” (the war, that is, not Chirac’s decision). And he added that friendship with the United States “is not submission.” The Third Man France now has a John Anderson in its presidential race. François Bayrou, a dull centrist attempting to split the difference between socialist Ségolene Royal and Sarkozy, has climbed to 19 percent in some surveys. Given that he has no charisma and the institutional reform he proposes would combine the worst aspects of the Fourth and Fifth Republics (reinforcement of the president’s power, leading to a de facto disappearance of the prime minister and proportional representation in the parliament), his main asset is his image as a man from the terroir–a traditional, refined country gentleman who enjoys the finer aspects of a bygone France. Tired of Ségolène’s spouting off uncontrollably and her flirting with the French left’s radical chic idolization of juvenile delinquents especially her saying she shared the views of the rapper Diam’s, some leftist voters may be having buyer’s remorse and considering Bayrou. Meanwhile, in a vain attempt to enter the glamorous world of Ségo and Sarko, Bayrou’s young supporters have put together a cheesecake calendar.
