 Journalist facing legal action for "public abuse of a member of government"
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Français:
Une journaliste poursuivie pour "injures publiques envers un membre du gouvernement"
Country/Topic: France
Date: 22 January 2004
Source:
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Person(s): Judith Silberfeld
Target(s):
journalist(s)
Type(s) of violation(s):
legal action
Urgency:
Threat
(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has criticised a legal investigation opened
against journalist Judith Silberfeld for "public abuse of a member of
government". Silberfeld is deputy editor-in-chief of the monthly gay
magazine "Têtu". The organisation described the legal action as
"completely absurd and anachronistic."
"It is all the more ridiculous as it comes at a
time when France has just done away with the offence of 'insulting a
foreign head of state', one of the most archaic clauses in the press
law," the organisation said.
In an article published on 12 December 2002, the daily "Libération"
quoted Deputy Minister for the Family Christian Jacob, known for his
opposition to the Civil Solidarity Pact (Pacte civil de solidarité,
PACS, a law offering the possibility for unmarried couples - both
heterosexual and homosexual - to acquire a legal status) and to child
adoption by homosexuals. In the article, Jacob was quoted as saying,
"The term 'new family' is not intended to mean 'to be born as a result
of an orgy', as I have heard on television."
On 19 December, Silberfeld received an e-mail that appeared to have
been sent by the minister's public relations adviser, Antoine Rault.
The message said that the quote had been taken out of context and that
the minister spent "a lot of time studying the media and television,
the running of which he understood very little about".
The journalist from "Têtu", a "monthly for homosexuals of both
sexes", published the contents of the e-mail, which she believed to be
genuine, on the magazine's Internet site. A few hours later Rault,
contacted by Silberfeld, said the e-mail had not come from his office.
The journalist said the minister's adviser had "seen the funny side of
the situation." She immediately removed the item from the magazine's
website and published a correction in which she said she had been the
victim of a "clever hoax."
On 8 January 2004, more than one year later, Silberfeld was
summoned before a Paris court. She was told by the examining magistrate
that she was being investigated for "public abuse," on the basis that
she had used "expressions suggesting that the deputy minister for the
family did not have the intelligence that should be expected for
someone in his position". The minister himself said he had filed a
"complaint for defamation against an unknown person or persons" in late
2002.
For further information, contact Soria Blatmann at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 67, fax: +33 1 45 23 11
51, e-mail: europe@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org
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