Newsweek Blunder

Published in Le Figaro
(France) on 30 September 2010
by Yves Thréard (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Rachel Towers. Edited by Gheanna Emelia.
Must Newsweek magazine — one of the stars of the American press, so often shown as an example in our country — sink so low as to have such a front page this week? A photo of President Nicolas Sarkozy, with a rather distrustful expression, to illustrate this title: “A New Extremism in Europe.”

Newsweek is losing steam. It needs readers. But must it resort to journalistic prostitution? It’s true that the French press has not been very nice to George Bush, to say the least. Americans, annoyed at this, are now finding a way to get revenge.

Easy and dishonest: first, because the writer of the article is neither a journalist nor an American, but a working deputy in Great Britain. Denis MacShane delivers his opinion, one of a man who hasn’t liked France for quite a long time.

Next, this front page doesn’t correspond at all to the inside three-page article, which is dedicated rather to the emergence of the far right into the Swedish parliament. Only a few lines are reserved for the French political situation, and to the expulsion of the Gypsies. It really is robbery. Where’s the information?

True, things aren’t exactly perfect in France, and Sarkozy has a lot of faults. But to make him look like an extremist really rings of the same “over-the-top” business as those who said, not long ago, that Bush was worse than his enemy, Saddam Hussein.


Faut-il que le magazine "Newsweek", l'un des fleurons de la presse américaine, si souvent montrée en exemple dans notre pays, soit tombé si bas pour afficher pareille "Une" cette semaine ! Une photo de Sarkozy à la mine patibulaire pour illustrer ce titre : le "nouvel extrémisme en Europe".

Newsweek est en perte de vitesse, il a besoin de lecteurs. Doit-il pour autant s'adonner au racolage ? C'est vrai que la presse française n'a pas été tendre avec George Bush, pour ne pas dire plus. Les Américains, vexés, trouvent donc là le moyen de se venger.

Facile et malhonnête. D'abord parce que le signataire de l'article n'est pas journaliste, ni Américain, mais député travailliste en Grande-Bretagne. Denis MacShane livre une opinion, celle d'un homme qui n'aime plus la France depuis longtemps.

Ensuite, cette "Une" ne correspond pas du tout à l'article intérieur sur trois pages, surtout consacré, lui, à l'entrée de l'extrême droite au parlement suédois. Quelques lignes seulement sont réservées à la situation française et à l'expulsion des roms. C'est vraiment du vol. Où est l'info ?

Enfin, tout n'est pas parfait en France et Sarkozy a beaucoup de défauts. Mais le faire passer pour un extrémiste relève de la même outrance que celle qui a consisté naguère à dire que Bush était pire que son ennemi Saddam Hussein.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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