A number of journalists have recently acceded to political positions: Georges-Marc Benamou, former columnist at la Provence, became Nicolas Sarkozy’s special advisor. Catherine Pégard, who covered Sarkozy’s campaign for Le Point, and Myriam Lévy of the Figaro got positions at L’Elysée and Matignon respectively.

And Jean-Marc Plantade, former investigative journalist for Le Parisien, has become communications advisor for Christine Lagarde, the minister of Economy (another hint that the lines between journalism and communication are getting blurred).

It doesn’t’ help public perception that Sarkozy seems to have close ties with many of the media’s owners and business men, including Arnaud Lagardère (recent examples of alleged politically-motivated editorial interference here).

At the beginning of the year, the Newsroom Barometer revealed that European editors were much more concerned about business-related threats to editorial independence than political pressure. What then when business is tied to politics?

Source: Libération