France: Libération breaks an embargo and ethical rules

Posted by Bertrand Pecquerie on November 29, 2006 at 7:11 PM

Six French regional newspapers got an interview from Nicolas Sarkozy, minister of Interior for their Thursday 30 November edition. And it was an important interview because it was his official declaration of candidature for the next year presidential election as UMP candidate (the rightist / conservative party) against Ségolène Royal, the leftist / socialist candidate.

On Wednesday 29 November afternoon, Libération decided to break the embargo and to publish the whole interview. Everybody can read the interview on the Libération website (in French). A real scoop, but with many ethical issues behind: when a newspaper wants to publish an exclusive interview done by its own reporters or editors, is it possible to another newspaper to publish it?

It is no longer a "web first publishing" idea, it's an online act of piracy and an infringement of copyright laws. I suppose Libération will say that readers must be informed... But there are methods and processes that require a minimum of consensus in our profession.

Source: Libération website (in French). At 8PM on Wednesday 29 November, none of the following newspapers published online the interview: L'Alsace, L'Est Républicain, La Montagne, La Nouvelle République, Ouest-France, l'Yonne Républicaine

Posted in :