[WikiEN-l] Re: Fair use in the UK

Tue Feb 24 20:30:29 UTC 2004

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.
-- 
--------------------------------
|  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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