Sarkozy scandal fails to fire in France

PARIS - More than the Channel divides Britain and France, as testified by their media's response to internet rumours that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his supermodel wife, Carla Bruni, are having affairs.

It all began with a "tweet" on French Twitter, which spread to chatrooms and then to a blog on the middle-brow Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

Bruni, 42, is supposedly consorting with a mop-haired singer/composer six years her junior named Benjamin Biolay.

Sarkozy, 55, is purportedly involved with Chantal Jouanno, 40, his junior Environment Minister, a slim and beautifully tailored woman who won her 13th national karate title last weekend.

The Elysee presidential palace has declined to comment, while Jouanno's spokesman has warned she will take legal action against any "slanderous comments".

The British media seized on the rumours with gusto, beginning with the tabloids but also spreading to broadsheets, including the Daily Telegraph, which splashed the story on its front page, with large photos of Jouanno and Bruni.

The story has also been reported in Switzerland and the United States.

But in France, nothing. The Journal du Dimanche has pulled the blog from its website, leaving a brief explanation saying the item was "seriously prejudicial to private lives", while LePost.fr, which also specialises in celebrity gossip, withdrew three items from its site, without explanation.

The satirical weekly Le Canard's only apparent allusion to the "affairs" was a mention in its spoof column called "The Diary of Carla B".

In it, France's first lady writes she is "jealous" of Jouanno and wonders if the dynamic minister "cheats" ... but at karate, of course, rather than anything else that might cross the reader's mind.

Such reticence may seem strange. Sarkozy has plunged in popularity and coming regional elections and the President's first state visit to Washington mean this "scandal" offers critics a great target.

He married Bruni in February 2008 after a three-month romance following his divorce from his second wife, Cecilia. Bruni has added glitz to his presidency, championing charitable causes while also pursuing a successful career as a singer.

So why have France's mainstream media been silent?

One is fear of legal action or pressure from on high, says media watchdog website Le Volontaire. The Journal du Dimanche is notably owned by friends of Sarkozy, and France has tough laws on protecting privacy.

"It [the press] is afraid and survives on subsidies," said Le Volontaire. "Which journalist wants to be the first to get the sack?"

Another reason is French journalists are less interested in reporting on the private lives of politicians than counterparts in Britain.

It was common knowledge among Parisian reporters that former President Francois Mitterrand had sired a daughter out of wedlock. Only at his funeral in 1996, when she showed up alongside Mitterrand's long-time mistress, did the general public become aware of the girl's existence.

"Anglo-Saxon" journalists may be appalled, saying reporters are not doing their job by withholding news of public interest. Some French counterparts would agree. But most would say a politician's private life is not in the public interest unless it involves a financial or other scandal - and sexual pursuits do not count. Lips also tend to curl at the antics and moralising of British tabloids and the general downward spiral into celebrity coverage - "la presse pipol" as it is called in French.

"Honestly, look at that," a journalist with AFP said, looking aghast at the Sarkozy-Bruni splash in the Telegraph. "It's all based on rumours on the internet, nothing more."

Despite all the hype about France being "agog" about the supposed affairs, internet traffic on the rumours has been light.

The French branch of wasalive.com, which monitors web trends, placed the Elysee story outside its top 30 "hot topics" yesterday.

There seems much cynicism towards internet rumours. "Yeah, sure," said one contributor, under an account of the presidential pair's supposed sexual shenanigans. "I'm still waiting for Brangelina to bust up."