Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...
Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...
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<strong>Neo</strong>-<strong>Bonapartism</strong>? A <strong>parallel</strong> <strong>between</strong> <strong>Nicolas</strong> <strong>Sarkozy</strong> <strong>and</strong> Napoleon III<br />
in France” (Leroi, 2009), is not compensating the damages it inflicts on <strong>Sarkozy</strong>’s image. The<br />
trade association CGT Radio France launched at this occasion a large campaign of strikes among<br />
the sector in May 2009 under the slogan: “Where is the manipulation, in defending public<br />
service broadcasting <strong>and</strong> freedom of information or in appointing <strong>and</strong> dismissing authoritatively<br />
<strong>and</strong> unilaterally the presidents of France Télévisions <strong>and</strong> Radio France? No, <strong>Sarkozy</strong> will not<br />
muzzle the public service! » (2009). As a matter of fact, <strong>Sarkozy</strong> did: he replaced Cluzel by one of<br />
his closest friends, Jean-Luc Hees, who – among other things - signed in 2007 a flattering book<br />
of the UMP c<strong>and</strong>idate (<strong>Sarkozy</strong> président ! Journal d'une élection) <strong>and</strong> whose first measure was<br />
the firing of Stéphane Guillon <strong>and</strong> Didier Porte, the very radio satirists that irritated the<br />
president more than once. The same scenario was reproduced for France Télévisions: the very<br />
popular Patrick de Carolis (either within the profession or the French) whose firm st<strong>and</strong> against<br />
<strong>Sarkozy</strong>’s reforms of the French public broadcasting was reported as “courageous”, was tossed<br />
out <strong>and</strong> replaced by Rémy Pflimlin, the “foal of two very close collaborators of <strong>Sarkozy</strong>, Claude<br />
Guéant (the General Secretary of the Elysee), <strong>and</strong> Alain Minc” (Basqué & Psenny, 2010).<br />
II. A purposefully-designed communication strategy:<br />
The tip of the imperial iceberg directed at controlling the press, visible at the level of the<br />
enacted laws silencing the opposition <strong>and</strong> the physical repression of journalists, hides an<br />
amazingly well-organized machine de guerre. As a matter of fact, it was not before the early<br />
1900s that confidential documents revealed the underlying foundations of Napoleon III’s<br />
communication strategy. In their well-documented book Napoléon Le Néfaste, Brézol <strong>and</strong><br />
Crozière disclosed the underlying mechanisms of the imperial press policy; <strong>and</strong> mainly the<br />
shaping of a state-defined editorial line for the newspapers, the seating <strong>and</strong> placing of pro-state<br />
A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/<br />
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