Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...

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Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III 49 th ranking” (Télérama, 2010). Once the French contemporary media scene under scrutiny, it appears that to achieve the monitoring of the information, Sarkozy’s strategy relied upon the combination of three powerful mechanisms: an influential clientelism with the French media owners, a direct interference in the sector via its reforming, and finally a state-sponsored surveillance and repression of the journalists. On the clientelism chapter, Sarkozy did not create anything, but rather turned into his advantage the current organization of the media ownership in France. As explained by Sachs, “the concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few well-connected industrialists has been building for years, but the circles of influence, wealth, and political power have converged to an unusual degree in Mr. Sarkozy's France” (2007). The happy few mentioned below happen to be Sarkozy’s closest intimate friends; accordingly and even if the president do not possess any media outlet, he can rely upon the support of his powerful network since “two thirds of all French newspapers and magazines are owned by the president's close friends Dassault and Lagardère whose affiliated company, Hachette, also owns most of France's publishing houses and a large part of the book and magazine distribution network” (2010) as explained by Willsher. The Guardian’s journalist proposes an even further description of Sarkozy’s de facto “media empire” through revealing the listing of his “band of five loyal media musketeers”, and namely Arnaud Laguardère (Paris Match, Elle, Journal du Dimanche, Télé 7 Jours, Première Magazine, France Dimanche, and dozens of news and radio stations and cable channels), Martin Bouygues (TF1, Eurosport, and a variety of cable channels), Bernard Arnault (La Tribune, Les Echos, Investir, and Radio Classique), Serge Dassault (Socpresse Group, Le Figaro, Valeurs Actuelles), and finally François Pinault (Le Point, Europe 1). Further investigations showed that Sarkozy’s circle of influent media friends encompasses other grands A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 56
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III patrons (and even powerful advertisers) as listed by Bénilde (2006): Jean-Claude Decaux (world leader in urban advertising), Gérard de Riquemorel (Hachette Fillipacchi Médias), Nicolas de Tavernost (M6), Arnaud de Puyfontaine (Mondadori France), Thierry Saussez (Image et Stratégie), Philippe Gaumont (FCB), Jean Luc Mano (France 2 general manager), Edouard de Rotschild (Libération), and Stéphane Courbit (Endemol France). In fact, no republican law forbids presidential acquaintances with the media tycoons; what is problematic in such a state of affairs is the employment of these acquaintances for the presidential domination of the mainstream media. "Rarely in the course of the last decades has the media risked becoming so much the instrument of a single mind-set, and yet at the same time so scorned by people in power," declared a coalition of six French journalist unions cited by Sachs who pointed out the “direct presidential interference” (in editorial decisions) or “the self- censorship on the part of overly cautious editors tiptoeing around unflattering news about their bosses and their bosses' important friends” (2007). Several incidents are worth mentioning at this regard, all revealed by the few remaining independent publications. The Leftist Marianne for example brought up a “mysterious wave of suppressing of unflattering articles” citing the cover story of Paris Match which was about to reveal the fact that Sarkozy’s ex-wife Cecilia did not vote at the second tour of the presidential election but which was pulled out at the last minute (Kirby, 2007). Sachs for his part related several pre-election incidents, among which one involving Arnault’s Tribune. This publication commissioned an opinion poll that revealed that the Socialist candidate Royal “inspired more confidence on economic questions than Sarkozy; La Tribune prepared a front page headline to that effect, with the full story scheduled to run inside, but on the eve of publication, the chief editor killed the story” (Sachs, 2007). Bénilde finally A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/ 57
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