2004 World Press Freedom Review

France is a country that, in recent years, has on occasion censured journalists, despite the fact that French law and the authorities usually maintain a friendly environment for the independent media.

The French national assembly passed the digital economy bill on 8 January. Article 2 of the bill, which talks about the responsibilities of Internet service providers (ISPs), states that ISPs are responsible for the content of Web pages on the sites they host. They would become liable under common law, if they did not promptly block Web sites whose content is illegal once they became aware of this. RSF has voiced its concern, citing the ambiguity of such statements as worrying for online freedom of expression.

Website hosts oppose the bill under which they would be forced to censor any content that could be deemed unlawful. The penalties would be a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine of 75,000 euros for the ISP managers. Furthermore, legal decisions would have to be taken by commercial companies.

Jorge Carlos Forbes, a journalist with Agence France Presse, was assaulted on 20 January in Paris as he was leaving the opening of a contemporary Cuban art exhibition. According to a report by RSF, the journalist was standing at the foot of the Great Arch of La Défense with two Cuban émigrés, when the Cuban minister of culture and the Cuban ambassador left the exhibition. After the minister and ambassador engaged in a heated exchange with the émigrés, four members of their security staff attacked Forbes. Even though he identified himself as a journalist, he was brutally beaten and was eventually taken to hospital.

A legal investigation was opened against journalist Judith Silberfeld, deputy editor-in-chief of the monthly gay magazine Têtu, for defaming a government official. According to an RSF report, the journalist published on the magazine's Website an e-mail that appeared to be sent by the office of the Minister for the Family, Christian Jacob. An e-mail that later turned out to be a hoax. The minister, known for his opposition to same sex marriages and to child adoption by homosexuals, was quoted in a 12 December 2002 article in the daily Libération, 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."

The e-mail that Silberfeld received on 19 December 2002 stated that the quote was taken out of context and that the minister spent a great deal of time studying the media and television, and that he understood little about running it. Once she found out the e-mail was a hoax, the journalist removed it from the Website and published an apology and retraction.

However, on 8 January, she was summoned to a Parisian court told that she was being investigated for public abuse because she used "expressions suggesting that the deputy minister for the family did not have the intelligence that should be expected for someone in his position." Jacob said he had filed a defamation complaint against an unknown person or persons in late 2002. RSF criticised the legal action as absurd and anachronistic. France has recently removed the offence of insulting a head of state from its statute books.

According to reports, a Kurdish satellite television channel based in Paris, Medya TV, was taken off the air by French authorities in February, due to its suspected links with a Kurdish militant group banned in Turkey. The channel was widely seen as a mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group outlawed as a terrorist organisation in Turkey.

The PKK was officially dissolved in 2002, but has continued under a succession of different names. The Council of State ruled that the channel posed "risks to public order" and therefore could not obtain a broadcast licence required under a 2001 law.

It upheld a decision of the audio-visual supervisory authority (CSA) to cancel the channel's broadcasting license on 9 February. The station, one of the more popular in the Kurdish community in Turkey, ceased operating on 10 February. The Council of State noted that the PKK activities had been banned in France by a 1993 decree by the French Interior Ministry.

In May, France's leading daily Le Monde has withdrawn the libel suits it filed against the authors of the book "La Face Cachée du Monde" ("The hidden face of Le Monde") last year. The book, published in February 2003, accused the editorial team at the daily of bias, hypocrisy and abuse of political power.

According to reports, the publishing house that published the book also made some concessions and promised not to reprint book. The authors also "clarified" some of their claims, including the assertion that the deputy editor-in-chief, Edwy Plenel, did not work for the CIA, and that the board chairman Alain Minc did not use the newspaper to advance his political ambitions. Reportedly, Le Monde decided not to be involved in a long and scandalous court case.

French journalists were among those media workers, who have complained about the fee of 288 euros charged at the G-8 summit in the state of Georgia, USA, in June. In reply to the criticism, the organisers of the summit claimed that this was a fair price, and a US reporter would not accept a free gift from the government. They called it a culture clash. Journalists, on the other hand, said that such fees are unprecedented at G-8 summits.

Fabrice Chassery, Jacques Langevin and Christian Martinez, the three photographers, who were part of the press pack that chased Princess Diana on the night of her fatal car accident in Paris in 1997, were retried by a French court. They were accused of violating French privacy laws by taking photos of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed as the couple lay badly injured in the wreckage of their car, an offence punishable by up to a year in jail.

On 14 September, an appeals court ruled that the three did not break French privacy laws. Initially, the photographers were acquitted of the charges in November 2003, but Mohamed al Fayed, Dodi's father, and state prosecutors appealed against the verdict.

Police used a stun grenade against Georges Bartoli, a freelance photographer working for the news agency Reuters, while he was covering a protest against genetically modified crops on 25 September 2004 in Valdivienne. According to reports, Bartoli was standing at a distance from the crowd, just a few metres from the police, wearing a press armlet and had two cameras on him. Yet a stun grenade was thrown in his direction. The journalist sustained minor injuries to both legs when the grenade detonated and had to be hospitalised.

Alain Darrigrand, a reporter with France 2, and Christophe Garnier of LCI and TF1 also said they were deliberately targeted by the police, while filming the demonstration. They were also far from the crowd, near the police, and clearly identifiable as journalists, when the police threw tear gas and a stun grenade from a distance of about one metre.

In November, Jewish groups criticised a French government decision to allow the television arm of Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas to continue broadcasting to Europe using a French satellite operator. The CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations said that the broadcasts included anti-Semitic films that incite Muslims to attack Jews.

Reportedly, France's Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) announced the agreement with al-Manar on 19 November. In its statement, the CSA declared that some broadcasts it had viewed broke French law because they could incite hate or violence against people for religious or national reasons and stoke tensions between different groups living in Europe. The channel said it was prepared to comply with France's legal requirements.

The United States and Britain classify Hizbollah, supported by Syria and Iran, as a terrorist group, but France does not.

However, on 30 November, the CSA called for a ban on the television station, after it claimed that Zionists were trying to export AIDS to Arab countries. The CSA stated that it would ask a court to ban al-Manar TV for breaking its pledge not to incite religious hatred.

A court order from the Council of State on 13 December ordered the satellite operator Eutelsat to stop broadcasting al-Manar. Al-Manar officials claim viewers can still access the channel through alternative satellites. The Council of State said it might reconsider the ban if al-Manar complies with French anti-hate laws.

Several French journalists were kidnapped in Iraq in 2004. Alexandre Jordanov, a French television journalist, was released in Iraq on 14 April, after he was held hostage since 12 April. He was kidnapped along with his cameraman, Ivan Cerieix, who was released during that week. The two journalists were filming a documentary programme for French pay-TV channel Canal Plus when they witnessed an attack on a logistical convoy north of Baghdad.

The most famous case was that of Christian Chesnot, a radio journalist, and Georges Malbrunot, Le Figaro, who were kidnapped on 20 August by Islamic militants. The kidnappers demanded that France revoke its ban on Islamic headscarves in schools. They gave a 48-hour ultimatum. The new law, which bans conspicuous religious symbols at school, went into effect on 2 September. After efforts on the part of the French government, the journalists were released on 21 December and returned to France.

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2003 World Press Freedom Review

Blessed with all the necessary institutions to support press freedom in France, the government and the judiciary occasionally display a willingness to censure journalists. In 2003, two journalists were fined by the courts for carrying out their professional duties, while a security law was forced through the legislature despite vigorous protests from press freedom organisations. If passed, the law will serve to increase the pressure on journalists.

In late December 2002, two journalists Youssouf Touré, a reporter for the Malian state television company ORTM, and Boubakar Diallo, a cameraman, were arrested while filming a group of Malian illegal immigrants who were being deported from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to Bamako in Mali. During the enforced deportation, fighting broke out and the journalists filmed police officers allegedly beating one of the deportees.

Reacting to the journalists’ presence, the police forced the journalists to leave the plane and seized the cameraman's film accusing them of "filming in a plane and obstructing the movement of [the] aircraft." The two journalists were held for over two hours and only released after the intervention of the Malian embassy in Paris. According to RSF, the confiscated film was never returned to the journalists.

Criticism was also levelled at France’s legal system during 2003. On 10 January, a court in Villefranche-sur-Saône near Lyon, made a judgement ordering the monthly magazine the Lyon Mag to pay approximately US $269,000 in damages to 56 wine producing cooperatives in the Beaujolais region.

The complaints were made after the magazine published an article titled, "A respected expert says Beaujolais is not real wine." In the article François Mauss, chairman of the European Grand Jury, an association of professional wine-tasters, heavily criticised the way in which the wine was produced. To balance the criticism, the magazine ran a second article titled, "The quality of Beaujolais is not in question" which carried an interview with Interprofessional Beaujolais Wine Association President Maurice Large.

In reaching its decision, the court said, "by misrepresenting Beaujolais wine in such a disgusting way, by comparing it to excrement, [those involved had] exceeded the acceptable limits of their respective social roles as critic and journalist…by seriously abusing their right to freedom of expression and publication." Press freedom commentators protested the legal decision claiming that the size of the damages would jeopardise the future of the magazine. On 13 August the Lyons Appeals Court's adjusted the size of the damages to approximately US $112,400.

During February, there were worries over the forthcoming Franco-African summit which saw French and African leaders discuss France’s relationship with the continent and the development of future cooperation. The summit led to a number of protests from RSF regarding the decision by the French government to discuss trade and other issues with leaders who had failed to improve their media environment. As perhaps a backlash to this and other criticisms, the French police tried to stop some journalists from reporting on the summit.

On 21 February, Associated Press Television Network ("APTN") cameraman Nicolas Garriga and Gaël Ellissade, a motorcyclist for the firm Motopresse, were arrested in front of the summit’s conference hall while filming. Police told them to stop taking pictures and asked to see their papers before taking them to a police station. They were released four hours later. On the previous day, a dozen journalists were also detained in front of the French Foreign Ministry building, where they had gone to report on a demonstration against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's presence at the summit.

A book criticising the French daily Le Monde was published in February. "La Face Cachée du Monde" ("The hidden face of Le Monde") accused the editorial team of France’s most prestigious daily of bias, hypocrisy and abuse of political power. Reportedly, chief executive Jean-Marie Colombani, editor-in-chief Edwy Plenel and board chairman Alain Minc had used the newspaper to advance their political ambitions, misrepresented the newspapers finances and sank the campaign of at least one former presidential candidate.

On 26 February, the newspaper denied all allegations, published several articles countering the book’s claims, and vowed to sue the authors, journalists Philippe Cohen, a former Le Monde reporter fired in 1987, who is now head of the economic section of the weekly news-magazine Marianne, and Pierre Péan, one of France’s most prominent investigative journalists. A 3 page counter-charge was published by Le Monde on 7 March.

With the war in Iraq and the continuation of the war against terrorism, there were fears that in 2003 the French government was continuing to pass laws that might harm press freedom. In April, the Justice Minister Dominique Perben introduced a new bill (known as the "Perben law") on the subject of internal security that included provisions regulating police searches and seizures.

"This bill represents a new threat to the confidentiality of journalists' sources," said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. "Even though police searches of media outlets' offices remain subject to special regulations, the measures pose a new threat to the confidentiality of journalists' sources, to the degree that under the proposed law, a journalist who is found 'likely' to be in possession of information that is deemed relevant to an investigation will find himself in the justice system's sights."

According to media commentators, Articles 28 and 49 of the bill, seek to give examining judges, state prosecutors and Criminal Investigation Department officers the right "to require all persons, institutions, private or public organisations and government offices that are likely to be in possession of documents or information of significance to an investigation (...) to hand over these documents or pass on the information, without being constrained by an obligation to respect the notion of 'professional secrecy." Under the bill, anyone who refuses to respond to such a formal request will be fined approximately US $4,100.

Highlighting the dichotomy between the French government’s approach to press freedom and that of the European Convention on Human Rights, RSF called on the French government to repeal certain sections of the country’s press laws that contravene this Convention. "The European Court of Human Rights has firmly stated three times in recent years that sections of French law violate Article 10 of the Convention," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard noted in a detailed letter to Justice Minister Dominique Perben. The letter went on to outline the various articles in the country’s legislation that should be amended.

Providing evidence that concerns over press freedom were not merely a Parisian affair, there were concerns in June over the refusal of the town hall of Orange, in southern France, to give information to journalists working for the local La Provence newspaper. The town hall, which is run by the far-right National Front, has given the newspaper no information since March because it did not like its coverage of a town council meeting.

Apparently, the town hall accuses La Provence of favouring the opposition and of biased and inaccurate coverage of its activities. After initial hostilities lasting five months, normal relations were gradually re-established in autumn 2002. The crisis broke out again because the town hall did not like the newspaper's coverage of a town council meeting on 26 March. In addition, the town hall has accused La Provence of ignoring budgetary matters in order to play up opposition attempts to embarrass the municipal administration.

Once again highlighting the dangers of working in Corsica, the empty vehicle of Christine Clerc, a journalist with the daily newspaper Le Figaro, was sprayed with bullets in the southern Corsican village of Tolla on the night of 4 to 5 September 2003. Commentators believe the attack is a warning after Clerc’s article, published on on 1 September, denouncing the 20 August bomb attack on a police officer's car in Tolla. Prior to the attack on her car, a copy of the aforementioned article had been placed on a car that blocked Clerc’s entrance to her home.

The journalist, who was vacationing in Tolla, met the police officer on 28 August as he was leaving the island. She decided to report on the enforced departure of this native of the mainland, who had recently helped put out a fire threatening the village.

Clerc received a great deal of criticism for the article from the village's residents and its mayor, Jean-Baptiste Casalta, who accused the journalist of communicating a negative image of Corsica. The journalist says she has never previously been attacked or threatened as the result of her journalistic work.

Perhaps the most worrying case in France in 2003, and a case that certainly provided evidence of the French government’s dilatory approach to press freedom, was the case of journalist Gilles Millet. The case undermined any attempt by the French authorities to show that it supported the media in the country and it revealed exactly how the criminal courts in France may be used against the media to pressure journalists into silence.

On 23 October, a Paris criminal court convicted Millet of possessing confidential documents that formed part of a legal investigation. Millet was fined approximately US $1,175 and his sentence was suspended by the court. The case goes back to 1998 when Millet's home was searched by the National Antiterrorist Directorate ("Direction nationale antiterroriste") as part of an investigation headed by Jean-Louis Bruguière into "criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise."

The investigation was conducted four months after the murder of Corsican prefect Claude Erignac. Millet, who currently works for the monthly Corsica, was at the time of Erignac’s death a Corsica specialist writing for the weekly L'Evènement du Jeudi.

During the police search, police confiscated two of Millet's notebooks and found two documents: a report protected by investigative secrecy and, second, a report by the Financial Inspectorate considered a professional secret. After the search, Millet was placed in police custody for 48 hours before being charged.

At the hearing that convicted Millet, the court claimed that there was no violation of the right to information as the prosecution was justified by the obligation to "protect the reputation or rights of a third party and guarantee the authority and impartiality of the judiciary." The decision flies in the face of judgements by the European Court of Human Rights ("ECHR") that has criticised France for similar verdicts. Although not obliged, in the past, French courts have often been persuaded by the ECHR’s decisions.

In the latter part of the year, the Perben law returned to the top of the agenda. There were calls for party leaders in the lower house of the French parliament to strike down an amendment to the press law. The amendment would extend to one year the current three-month deadline for prosecuting journalists for defamation, insults or undermining the presumption of innocence.

"The three-month rule is very important for the media and for freedom of expression," said Ménard. "It is a security measure for journalists who have to prove they have done a serious investigation and have material evidence and witnesses to back up their claims. Who is going to keep all their reporting notes for a whole year or remember clearly for that long a period all the details of their enquiries? The present rule is an important defence guarantee for journalists and their employers."

Despite these pressures, many of which are local initiatives, the French media continues to remain defiantly independent.

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2002 World Press Freedom Review

The relationship between the press and the authorities in the republic has been tense for some time now. There is an ongoing struggle, played out in the courts, over what may be published. Rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have been ignored by the French authorities in the past. The court, however, took a firm stand on behalf of the media this year, in a freedom of expression decision that will hopefully permeate throughout the French justice system.

Unfortunately, there were several other press freedom violations. Unions destroyed the print-run of a new free daily and attacked its distributors. Police also attacked journalists, and a mayor used a journalist’s camera to hit him in the face after being confronted with allegations of abusing his authority.

On 25 June, the ECHR ruled that a Paris Appeals Court was in violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression. The Paris court had confirmed a guilty verdict handed down to the daily Le Monde. The newspaper had been found guilty of defamation in a controversial case some years back when a court ruled that the newspaper had insulted the Moroccan king. The guilty verdict was passed under an outdated press law created in 1881.

The law contains archaic clauses banning the use of insulting language when reporting on the activities of foreign heads of state, which contradicts international standards. The decision was welcomed by press freedom groups and journalists, many of whom pointed out that the French courts have been busy handing down guilty verdicts to journalists in response to their reporting on legitimate public issues such as scandals and corruption allegations.

In January, RSF reported that Hubert Levet, a journalist and managing editor of the financial daily Agefi was being tried by a court for "disclosing confidential financial information". Levet had first been detained by police in 1999, and was pressed hard to reveal sources he had used for an article.

RSF said that such methods have been used before and that about fifteen journalists had been held for similar questioning, or had been charged or convicted (or had their convictions upheld on appeal) in 2001. Revelations of other questionable methods used by the state also surfaced this year. Le Monde reported that the French National Anti-Terrorist Service had tapped the telephones of six journalists between 2000 and 2001 in connection with investigations into separatist violence in Corsica.

In another case, however, a court supported the right to freedom of expression. On 12 July, a Paris court threw out a lawsuit against French radio journalist Daniel Mermet and his boss, Jean-Marie Cavada, head of the Radio France network. The two had been accused of incitement to racial hatred and slander by the French Union of Jewish Students, the French League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism and lawyer William Goldnadel after airing comments made by listeners in a series of reports from Gaza and Israel.

Thousands of people had signed an appeal supporting Mermet and Cavada which was then published in the press. Radio France was subject to a similar suit in March 2002 when five journalists and editors with its affiliated station, France Inter, were charged with racial insults after it had broadcast a satirical show about Corsicans in May 2001.

But the legal troubles continued. On 13 September, RSF denounced what it said was the continuing "harassment of radio journalist Daniel Mermet". This time Mermet appeared, on 10 September, before a Paris court to face charges of "stirring up racial hatred" in connection with his airing in 2001 of an interview with a former Nazi medical doctor. "These groups, which have already criticised Mermet for a number of broadcasts on the Middle East, are lumping things together in an unacceptable way and aiming at the wrong target", RSF’s secretary-general Robert Ménard said.

There were also other worrying incidents. On 20 March, IPI expressed its concern at attempts to prevent the distribution of copies of a free newspaper 20 Minutes. French print union members had stolen and dumped copies in the street. The union is involved in a growing dispute over what they see as a threat to the stability of France’s media landscape.

As a result of their action, some 20 per cent of the launch edition was not distributed. 20 Minutes is jointly owned by the Norwegian media group Schibsted, the French group Spir communication and its main shareholder Sofiouest.

Moreover, there were reports that union activists had stopped distribution trucks on 18 and 19 March, while police – who allegedly had explicit orders to intervene only in cases of physical violence – looked on.

Union members have also tried to disrupt the launch of another free paper, the Swedish-owned Metro, by raiding a printing plant near Marseilles and leaving 50,000 copies of the daily out in the overnight rain. Furthermore, there were reports that Metro street distributors in both Paris and Marseilles had been physically assaulted by union activists armed with knives and guns. On 14 March, thousands of copies of Metro were seized from distributors and dumped in the street outside the company's office in central Paris in another protest against the free daily.

On 26 April, a Canal+ television crew was attacked by security guards connected to the right-wing National Front party while filming in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud. The journalist John-Paul Lepers and his technical assistant, Yacine Ben Jannette, were manhandled and escorted out of a room where a press conference was being held by the party’s leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. This was the latest in a long string of attacks against journalists carried out by associates of the party. A group connected to the party reportedly keeps track of journalists regarded as troublesome.

On 28 May 2002, RSF voiced its concern at a fine imposed on Philippe Brunet-Leconte, publication director at the monthly magazine Objectifs Rhône-Alpes. In addition, the assistant editor-in-chief, Loïc Tanant, was also fined. The total fine came to US $169,500 after a court in the southern French city of St. Etienne found them guilty of libel. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said, "Without judging the rights or wrongs of the case, we deplore such a huge fine, which may force this regional publication to close."

On 19 June, Michel Capdevielle, mayor of Gélaucourt, attacked two journalists. Reporter Abdul Traoré and cameraman Hartmut Müller, both with Saarlandischer Rundfunk, had gone to Gélaucourt to report on local unrest sparked by the mayor’s alleged abuse of authority. When confronted, Capdevielle took Müller's camera and used it to hit him in the face. He also shouted derogatory and racist remarks at Traoré.

On 24 July, French police attacked a German film team during an anti-racism demonstration in Strasbourg. Journalists say they were attacked with tear gas and beaten by police, even though they presented police with press cards. Several journalists also had film confiscated.

The French government announced that it too would follow in the footsteps of many other European countries and introduce anti-terrorism measures in response to the 2001 September 11 attacks in New York. Among the measures proposed were the surveillance and tracking of Internet messages. The government also said it would create an Internet co-regulatory body called the "Forum of Internet Rights". Unions and media freedom groups protested these proposals; some believe that the new body, which so far has vaguely defined rights, could prove to have negative implications for freedom of expression.

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2001 World Press Freedom Review

France’s reaction to the September 11^th attack on America was closely watched by concerned human rights groups this year. The attack occurred at the same time as legislation concerning the free flow of information had been tabled and there were calls to amend the proposed legislation to include anti-terrorism provisions. In response, a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and media outlets were vocal in their attempts to preserve the role of the media in the stampede to draft amendments and counter terrorism.

On 3 June a break-in at the offices of the Dossiers du Canard enchaîné raised concerns that the media organisation was being targeted. According to information provided to the French press freedom organisation RSF, two cabinets were opened and the computer laptop of journalist Brigitte Rossigneux , who deals with defence issues, was stolen. The journalist believes it is possible the theft was motivated by a desire to identify the names of her contacts in the Ministry of Defence.

Prior to the break-in, on 2 May, Le Canard enchaîné revealed the office was under surveillance in March by an individual in a Paris-police vehicle. The individual, witnessed by the building's concierge, was apparently taking pictures of the offices.

On the basis of the licence plate number, it appeared the car was used by at least two different civil servants and was often parked in the area outside the offices. Neither of the two civil servants fitted the description given by the building concierge." The chief of police also "firmly reaffirmed that those services under his authority have never been involved in any surveillance operation of the weekly Le Canard Enchaîné."

A second press freedom incident in June showed that the French Judicial system is prepared to ignore the case-law of the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) on the subject of "Retention of investigative secrets," or "professional secrets". On 19 June, RSF reported the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal had rejected the appeal of journalists Jean-Marie Pontaut and Jérôme Dupuis. The two journalists are authors of the book "The Ears of the President," which deals with phone-tapping by the French president’s office and its consequences for freedom of information in France.

According to RSF's secretary-general Robert Ménard, ‘"Retention of investigative secrets,’ or ‘professional secrets’ in other cases, is now a ‘press offence,’ for which the French justice system is the undisputed European champion, in complete contradiction with the jurisprudence of the European Court on Human Rights on the subject."

In a tersely worded letter to the French government, the press freedom organisation noted the ECHR condemned France for violating the right to freedom of expression of two journalists who had published, in the magazine L'Evénement du jeudi in 1993, a complaint about abuse of public property. The complaint was lodged by the management of the National Society for the Construction of Housing for Workers against a former executive of the firm.

September saw the resumption of the fierce argument over the right to protect a journalist’s sources. On 3 September, Jean-Pierre Rey, a photo-journalist from the Gamma agency, was detained by the National Anti-terrorist Division (DNAT) and held for questioning. He is the fifth journalist to face this measure from the French justice system in the past 20 months. Apparently, the DNAT's objective in holding Rey for questioning was to "collect" the journalist's information because he is a specialist in Corsican affairs.

Despite the fact that the protection of sources is the only guarantee of independent investigative journalism; a right which is endorsed in the 4 January 1993 reform of the Penal Code, the right to the protection of journalists’ sources is regularly eroded in France. Unfortunately, the French courts have been prepared to extend the offence of "concealing a violation of investigative secrecy" or "professional secrecy" to journalists.

On 6 September, French police briefly detained journalists who had accompanied a asylum seekers into the Channel Tunnel, which runs between France and Britain. The tunnel is seen as a major conduit and the media were interviewing asylum seekers as they attempted to enter the United Kingdom. Police reported there were three journalists from the Netherland’s current affairs programme, Nova and two reporters from Sky News.

Commenting on the incident, a police spokesperson said, "There are plenty of journalists on the site. They forget that the Eurotunnel terminal is private property and that they need authorisation."

After the September 11^th attack on the World Trade Center in America, fears were raised that the French government might use the crisis to pass restrictive legislation that would inhibit the free flow of information. The fears were centred on the government’s new Information Society Bill (LSI) which contained a number of provisions relating to the media. As a result of the attack, the government announced its intention to amend the bill in order to include "anti-terrorist" legislation.

On 8 October, RSF wrote to the authorities concerned with the free flow of information and said, "We fear that, under the pretext of the urgency of the situation and the tracking of terrorist networks, the government is preparing to adopt, without debate or dialogue, measures which will have serious implications for liberties." Measures included in the LSI Bill concern encryption and the retention of data.

The consequences of the attack on America and the subsequent war in Afghanistan were also felt in the area of satellite imaging. On 24 October, Reuters reported that the defence ministry had banned a French satellite imagery service, Spot Image, from selling pictures of Afghanistan to the media. According to RSF, "The military clampdown on civilian satellite images deprives the media of their control function."

Criticism in November was also levelled at the French Audio-visual Upper Council (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel, CSA) over its handling of the information about the conflict in Afghanistan and its reminder to the Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera of its reporting responsibilities.

On 3 October, the CSA announced the following "recommendations for all radio and television stations regarding the handling of information linked to the current international situation," in which the council urged them to pay particular attention to the respect of republican values in the handling of information.

Furthermore, on 7 November the CSA asked the Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera to respect its contractual and legal obligations, accusing it of broadcasting live images without providing context, and broadcasting false information without subsequently providing the necessary corrections. Responding to the actions of the CSA, RSF said, "We ask you to ensure that no controls on the content of information are reestablished in France because of the current conflict."

November was also the month in which the police revealed their extreme sensitivity over film of officers expelling families from a sports centre. On 8 November, Zaléa TV journalist Ivora Cuzak had her videotapes confiscated during a police operation. According to Cuzak, as she was filming, she was forced against a gate by police officers. The officers then confiscated her video camera and grabbed her microphone, throwing it to the ground. A few minutes later, her video camera was returned to her. It had been damaged; the videotapes were not returned.

On 9 November, Cuzak filed a complaint for assault with the Police Complaints Board. Zaléa TV management is expected to file a second complaint with the IGS for damage to the company’s property.

RSF was a primary source for the above article.

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2000 World Press Freedom Review

France was dogged by two serious press freedom issues in the new millennium; first, the difficulty of striking a balance between the state’s desire to investigate a crime and a journalist’s obligation to maintain the secrecy of a source and, second, the problem of reconciling the need to control the sale of Nazi memorabilia while upholding freedom of expression on the Internet.

As a backlash against the media, largely caused by the supposed involvement of the press in the death of Princess Diana in 1997, France passed one of the toughest restrictions on news photography in the Western world. The aim of the new legislation is to protect the dignity of people photographed in incriminating or humiliating poses.

Under the new law, photographers will be prohibited from taking pictures of suspects wearing handcuffs or from photographing crime scenes where a victim's dignity is jeopardised. A committee of various newspaper editors who will have the job of examining whether or not a photograph infringes the new regulations will enforce the law. If a court subsequently rules that they have broken the law they face a considerable fine.

Reacting to the imposition of the new legislation, magazine Paris Match said it would ignore the legislation and take a court battle to the European Court of Human Rights, if challenged by the authorities. "This is a very bad thing", said the photo editor at daily newspaper Liberation, Laurent Abadjian. "Photographs of many important events will lose all their force." The conservative Le Figaro newspaper said it was a ''dangerous'' law which would lead the media to "describe a society without conflict, without tension and without life".

In a legal action that may further infringe the rights of photographers in France, Reuters reported in early January that the owners of the volcano Le Pariou were suing a tourist magazine for publishing a picture of the mountain, including possible hiking paths, without having asked prior permission. The case is of considerable importance as, if upheld by the courts, it may prevent photographers from taking pictures of the French landscape.

Concerning the work of the environmentalist group Greenpeace, in June, divers, sent by the state-run nuclear fuels group Cogema to inspect a pipe, cut a Webcam cable two days after Greenpeace had installed it. According to information in France, the environmentalist group had set up the Webcam to monitor an underwater pipe at a nuclear reprocessing plant at La Hague that was spewing waste into the English Channel. The nuclear fuels group Cogema said in a statement the cable was cut by accident. Cogema, which owns the reprocessing plant at La Hague, said the radioactive waste leaving the pipe was monitored before being dumped and met existing standards on health and environmental impact. Hoping to dispel its secretive image, Cogema installed 10 permanent Web cameras at its reprocessing site seven months ago, but it had not fixed a camera to the discharge pipe, located 30 metres under the sea in an area of fierce currents.

In another contentious issue examined by the French courts, this time the competing principles of freedom of expression on the Internet and the sale of Nazi memorabilia, Reuters reported that the French Jewish Students' Union (UEJF) asked a court to order the French Internet portal Multimania to pay a symbolic one franc in damages for hosting a website containing pro-Nazi material. Instead of seeking a criminal conviction UEJF asked the company to reinforce its methods of controlling Internet material. The litigation also came at a time when UEJF and Paris-based anti-racism group LICRA were also preparing to take the US Internet portal Yahoo Inc. to court over an auction of Nazi memorabilia on one of the websites it hosts. In May, French judge Jean-Jacques Gomez ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, a decision which was subsequently appealed by Yahoo Inc.

As a result of the threatened litigation against Yahoo Inc., the Movement against Racism and for Friendship among People (MRAP) urged governments to bar public services and schools from using the Californian-based portal and the media to turn down its advertising. "By rejecting any control (over the websites), Yahoo Inc is no longer acting as a mere go-between ... but as an active agent for the profitable sale of historically tragic objects". The organisation also announced that it would join legal action against Yahoo Inc. In rebuttal, Yahoo Inc. argued that it is technically impossible to separate French users from other Internet users. In August, a state prosecutor asked a Paris court to appoint independent computer experts to test the assertion made by the Internet portal.

Challenging the views of the groups ranged against Yahoo Inc., Yahoo France Managing Director Philippe Guillanton, said that compliance was nearly impossible technically – and above all a dangerous precedent. "This is a doubled-edged issue", said Guillanton, adding he sympathised with the anti-racism groups, but that the worldwide Internet computer network has thrived and revolutionised daily lives, trade and entertainment only because it knows no borders.

"If you accept that the means are there (to black out any given nationality), that opens the door for other jurisdictions which are less open-minded than France to follow suit", for any multitude of reasons, he told Reuters in an interview. "That would be tantamount to saying the Internet as a whole would be turned back into a tool which is hemmed in by national frontiers", he said. "This would be a major setback for the Internet and the progress it has brought to people." Furthermore, Guillanton went onto to say he was convinced that the three-man team looking into the issue over the next two months would come up with the same answer as Yahoo – that it was not up to the portals, which serve mainly as conduits for websites which others create. "We believe the experts will come to a similar conclusion to our own," he said.

In a return to the litigation of last year over the death of Princess Diana, AP reported that a French court had heard an appeal to reopen the investigation of the car crash that killed a driver, the princess and her friend Dodi Fayed. The appeal was brought by Dodi Fayed’s father Mohamed Al Fayed and the family of driver Henri Paul. A lower court dismissed charges against press photographers who were chasing the car prior to the 31 August 1997, crash in a Paris traffic tunnel. Prosecutor Annie Grenier urged the court to uphold the dismissal. The hearing was closed to the press. Last September, Judge Herve Stephan threw out charges against nine photographers and one motorcyclist implicated in the case. In a one-page statement, Stephan ruled that alcohol, drugs and excessive speed caused the crash that ended the life of the princess.

On 17 October, RSF protested the arrest and detention of journalist Arnaud Hamelin's. The case, which highlights many of the major issues surrounding a refusal to provide the courts or the police with details of a source, has promoted widespread fears among the international community. "We are concerned about the future repercussions of this decision. A journalist cannot be ordered to reveal the sources of his information, and as such be forced to act as a subsidiary of the law or police," stated Robert Ménard, the organisation's secretary-general. "This is not about shielding a journalist from legal proceedings", added Ménard, "but rather protecting the principle of the protection of sources, which is an investigative journalists' sole guarantee of being able to pursue independent investigations".

According to information collected by RSF, French journalist and television producer Hamelin was placed in police custody on 17 October 2000, on the basis of a preliminary investigation opened against the Jospin government's former minister of finance, Dominique Strauss Kahn, "and any others", for the penal offence of "removing documents from the law". The arrest concerns the alleged existence of a tape containing the confession of a secret financier of the RPR (the president's political party). Hamelin has consistently refused to name the official.

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1999 World Press Freedom Review

A Télé Bocal television crew was assaulted on January 24 while covering a right-wing rally, RSF reported. Reporter Anne Mazauric, cameramen Bastien Mehl and Julien Teruel were attacked by members of French Action. Members of the group destroyed videotapes, damaged a camera and struck Mazauric in the face.

On October 8, arsonists destroyed a transmitter in the French Basque country, leaving a quarter of a million people without television, radio and mobile phone services. It was suspected that the attack was carried out by Basque guerrillas. President Chirac later announced that the crackdown on ETA (Basque separatists) would continue.

The French television and radio watchdog, Council for Audiovisual affairs (CSA), censured the country’s most popular television channel, TF1, for violating the principles of honest reporting on January 27. The CSA said that TF1 had showed a programme that recreated arrests of several drug dealers, leaving viewers with the impression that they saw actual arrests. TF1 said that it had purchased the programme believing it was genuine reporting. A few days earlier, on January 22, the French public spending watchdog, La Cour des Comptes, claimed that France Television, the French public TV holding company, was the subject of poor management after criticising its investment in digital satellite television, among other things. The television station defended itself saying that before the charges La Cour des Comptes had recognised its effort to halt increasing spending. It also said that its investment in digital satellite television was a positive one due to the market’s current gains and subscriber growth. On April 21, the French Cabinet approved a bill that would cut advertising spending on public television. According to Information Minister Catherine Trautmann the change will cost 2.4 billion francs which will be contributed by the government. The bill would cut advertising by one third.

An old story that resurfaced this year was the question of several photographers’ actions with regard to Princess Diana’s fatal car crash in 1997. On September 3, the French prosecutor dropped all the charges stating that the photographers pursuing Princess Diana’s car should not be held responsible for the crash and instead blamed the driver who was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Charges against the journalists for not helping the victims of the crash but rather concentrating on snapping pictures were also dropped. Even though the charges were dropped industry experts said that photojournalism has suffered and could face long-term harm due to the fatal crash. Eric Preau, managing editor of the Sygma photo agency, told Reuters that "the business has been very, very deeply wounded. This investigation should never have taken place."

French Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigo has introduced proposed legislation that, if passed, would forbid the publication of any photograph that could harm a person’s reputation. The French media have attacked the plans for implementation of the law arguing that by banning pictures of war and violence and giving judges the power to decide on what news pictures are deemed legal, the government is in fact denying citizens information that is available to people in all free countries. Le Monde said it would lead French media to describe "a society without conflict, without tension and without life." Further it claimed that it would produce the idea that nasty things only happened abroad. Media organisations plan to take the law to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if the legislation is passed.

Four members of Reporters Sans Frontières had to present themselves before the first chamber of Paris Police Court on December 14. They were facing a suit for "non-respect of a departmental sanitary law" after throwing leaflets on the automobile of Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage during his visit to France in September 1998. The reporters were protesting the imprisonment of journalist Bernardo Arévalo Padrón who was sentenced to six years for having called President Fidel Castro and Carlos Lage liars.

On September 21, journalists at the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) went on a 24-hour strike protesting proposals for AFP to turn to private and public firms for eventual partnership and to find steadier financial backing. Union representatives said that it might lead to a privatisation of the firm. The proposals were put forward by AFP’s new managing director, Eric Giuily, who was elected on March 9. The strike mainly affected domestic services.

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Police detained three journalists on June 30 for questioning and confiscated some of their documents as part of an investigation into the assassination of the Corsican chief of police on February 4.

Gilles Millet, of L’Evénement du Jeudi, was detained for two days. Millet’s home was searched, while several documents and address books belonging to him were confiscated by the officers. Police also searched the home of Pierre-Jean Luccioni, assistant editor-in-chief of the television chain FR3-Corse, and confiscated notes and documents related to his work. Luccioni was detained for questioning for several hours.

Pascal Richard, editor-in-chief of the program "Etats d’urgence" (State of Emergency) on the television network France 3, gave a statement to police in connection with a programme they had broadcast about Corsica.

The questioning of these journalists and particularly the confiscation of material relating to their work sparked controversy as it is seen to be in clear violation of the journalists’ right to protect their sources of information. While Article 109 of the French Penal Code guarantees a journalist’s right to protect sources of information, this right is suspended if the journalist is held for questioning. The European Human Rights Court and free press organisations have frequently pointed out Article 109’s inadequacies.

Jean-Marie Pontault and Jérôme Dupuis, journalists with the weekly l’Express, were obliged by a Paris court to pay 5000 francs (US$835) and 50,000 francs (US$8350) respectively in damages. The sentence followed their conviction for "receiving and publishing investigative secrets," RSF reported. Gilles Ménage, formerly director of the cabinet of former French President François Mitterrand, brought the charges against the two for having reproduced transcripts of recorded phone conversations and meeting minutes in their 1996 book, "Les Oreilles du président" (The Ears of the President).

At least twelve journalists were questioned this year in connection with demonstrations of support for "foreigners without proper papers" and operations to escort such people to the border. Most of these journalists have been photographers or cameramen. In 1997, three photographers were manhandled and questioned by police officers in similar circumstances. The French authorities appear to be afraid of the impact of such images on public opinion. Limitations on the work of photographers during these types of demonstrations are now taking place. The photographers are often questioned or roughed up by police, and their cameras are often confiscated under various pretexts.

Frederic Lepinay, a journalist with the daily Lille newspaper La Voix du Nord, was thrown to the ground by police on January 8 as he photographed them evacuating protesters from a building, RSF reported. The police told him to stop taking photos and destroyed his film.

French Moslem writer Roger Garaudy was brought before a court this year in France under a law called Fabious-Gibseau. This law punishes with fines and imprisonment those who deny that Jews were killed in holocausts by the Nazis, a charge which Garaudy faced for his book "The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics". Garaudy, 85, argues in his book that Hitler’s killing of the Jews amounted to "pogroms" or "massacres" and that the terms "genocide" and "holocaust" were exaggerated. He also denies that six million Jews were killed. He was fined 120,000 Francs (US$20,000) by the court on February 28. In December, an appeals court gave Garaudy a stiffer sentence of 160,000 Francs and two suspended jail sentences totalling nine months.

Two Arab reporters - Abdallah Hassan, of the Egyptian news agency MENA, and Sayyed Hamdi of Saudi Television - were attacked by suspected Zionist militants outside the court house following the initial judgement. French television reported that Betar-Tagar, a militant Jewish youth organisation, had claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement saying "after anti-semitic and revisionist remarks had been uttered by Garaudy’s sympathisers, the [holocaust] deniers were punished."

The Egyptian Organisation of Human Rights called the trial a flagrant violation of freedom of opinion and expression guaranteed by international human rights instruments.

On April 3, a French journalist whose telephone was illegally tapped under orders from late president Francois Mitterand accused the government of creating new obstacles to an official probe. Edwy Plenel of Le Monde released a letter to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin accusing him of taking steps to impede the investigation. Plenel’s phone was tapped by a secret anti-terrorist unit which reported directly to Mitterand after the reporter wrote a series of articles pinpointing the role of French agents in the blowing up of the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior off New Zealand in 1985. Plenel was one of several people including journalists, lawyers, politicians and a noted model and film actress whose telephone conversations were monitored from 1982 to 1986 by the anti-terror unit. Reversing his earlier decision, Jospin said in June that he would waive the official secrets act for the wiretapping files.

Journalist Claude Ardid of the daily Var Matin, was arrested and charged with "violating trial secrecy" in September. Ardid is in charge of political and organised crime reporting for his paper. The court took action against him for the April publication of a witness’ deposition while the court case was still ongoing.

The French Police arrested and briefly detained eight French journalists from Reporters Sans Frontieres when they were handing out leaflets outside Chinese premier Zhu Rongji’s hotel in Paris, during his visit in April. The handbills urged China to release imprisoned Gao Yu, who was arrested in 1993 and convicted last November to six years imprisonment after ‘leaking state secrets’.

France maintained its ban on the publication of voter surveys just before elections for the regional elections which took place on March 15 and 22. The ban, which is intended to prevent the swaying of voters, was widely flouted in last years voting for the National Assembly through internet publishing and using newspapers based in neighbouring Switzerland to publish last minute polls. The restrictions are imposed a full week before voting begins.

French public television boss Xavier Gouyou Beauchamps became the target of newspaper criticism in July for his decision to replace the head of leading public television station France 2, Reuters reported. France Television, which comprises France 2 and its smaller sister channel, France 3, announced that France 2 managing director Jean-Pierre Cottet was leaving and would be replaced by Patrice Duhamel, the managing director of France 3. In their Wednesday editions, the Liberation and Le Monde newspapers cast Cottet as the scapegoat for Gouyou Beauchamps, who wants to improve France 2’s flagging viewership and public image before his mandate as France Television chairman expires in June 1999. This move also comes as the government prepares to put the spotlight on public television with a reform plan due to come before Parliament, seeking chiefly to make France 2 less dependent on advertising revenues.

Many of France’s journalists went on a one day strike on December 2 in protest over government plans to cut a 30 percent income tax deduction that journalists have received since 1934.

Some publications failed to appear while the majority put out a skeleton edition. Agence France Presse and state radio channels France Inter, France Info and Radio France International also put out a limited service.

Journalists claim that the tax break is part of their salary structure and that some kind of compensation must be provided.