Whether it is fact or fiction, the rumours of extramarital romantic affairs relating to the French president first-born on Twitter has impassioned the European media, despite the notable absence of treatment in France. So are European news networks coming to the rescue of national censorship?
In France, only the Journal 
du Dimanche dared to reproduce the rumour which broke on Twitter a few weeks ago that Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the supermodel wife of the French president, had flirted with the singer Benjamin Biolay on a joint stay in Thailand, and that Nicolas Sarkozy had himself sought comfort with his Secretary of State Chantal Jouanno.Worse, the weekly paper owned by Arnaud Lagardère, the “brother” of the French president, was quick to self-censor and withdraw its own article posted earlier on its website… It was then that the European press who dug its claws in with articles appearing separately in the British Daily Telegraph, the Tribune de Genève and the Sun amongst others – the European press seemingly did not fear being sued, as the spokesperson for Mme Jouanno, below left pictured with Mr Sarkozy, threatened to do to journalists in France.
So are you telling me that rumours about the private life of the French president should not greatly interest the French people, who were clearly too occupied in voting in the regional elections since they didn’t speak of other Europeans?! Why should an Italian citizen, already swamped with the revelations of Silvio Berlusconi’s numerous verbal blunders and sexual liaisons, be interested in the unsupported allegations of the French president?The conclusion we can draw from this is the paradox between the silence across the mainstream reference French media and the attention and attraction for the European media. Many people will dismiss this silence since it was a simple buzz, an un-supported celebrity story and in short, nothing serious. But for the Tribune de Genève, this silence is because of “the influence that the president exercises on the owners of press and media chains”.
A Swiss daily newspaper sees further “political consequences” – such as the absence of the French president from the Salon de l’Agriculture – which seemed a priori to be a rumour. They therefore undertook some serious journalistic research after reading just a simple rumour on Twitter – proof that when information creates a stir in one country, the European media can take over the reins. It’s a bit like that in all European construction right?
My translation of an article published on cafebabel.com.
