Via Belmont Club this Brussels Journal observation of the French press coverage of the riots:
Politics in France is heading to the right and I don’t want rightwing politicians back in second, or even first place because we showed burning cars on television," Jean-Claude Dassier, the director general of the rolling news service TCI, says. ... Hence Dassier’s channel, which is owned by the private broadcaster TF1, has decided not to show footage of burning cars. Dassier also criticised the “excessive” coverage of the riots by international (read: Anglo-Saxon) news networks. ... Early this week the public television station France 3 had already stopped broadcasting the daily number of torched cars, while other TV stations followed suit. "Do we send teams of journalists because cars are burning, or are the cars burning because we sent teams of journalists?It's nice to see that the press can change its coverage based on the perception of the impact of the coverage. Of course, in France, the press wants to protect the government.
That doesn't mean the press here is against the government, does it? Naaaah... What am I thinking?!
Reporting just the bad news is just business. They'd never place pleasure before business, now would they?
