French daily Le Monde chose to publish today a letter signed by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, former fashion model and newly-wed spouse of President Nicolas Sarkozy. In the letter, Bruni-Sarkozy does nothing less than give a lesson of ethics to the journalistic profession.

Brief reminder of facts: at the beginning of February, Nouvel Observateur journalist Airy Routier published online a loosely substantiated story about a text message supposedly sent by Sarkozy to his ex-wife, a few days before his wedding with Bruni.

Subsequently, Sarkozy prosecuted the NouvelObs.com. Routier, who at first defended his source and the validity of the story, had to later admit that he had never actually seen the text message, and just recently sent an official letter to apologize to Bruni-Sarkozy. The president in turn dropped his complaint.

According to Bruni-Sarkozy's letter in Le Monde, the story of the text message, which can still be found on the publication's website, highlighted the ethical slips of modern journalism: "what's dishonest and worrisome in this episode is the fact that at no point the "news" was verified, corroborated, validated."

"Even if the rumor had been founded, it would have been by chance, the result of a vague indiscretion, hearsay, and not the result of a rigorous investigation."

"If, from now on, rumor is used for news, if fantasies are used as scoops, where are we going towards?"

Importantly, Nouvel Obs is traditionally considered to be a quality weekly publication, far removed from tabloids and other fast-news titles.

It's obvious that the decision to publish the story, which was later condemned by the Nouvel Obs' director, revealed insufficient editorial oversight. It may also have been representative of modern trends in journalism, which put increasing importance on speedy online publication and 'crisp' content.

Granted, as pointed out by Bruni-Sarkozy, the Nouvel Obs' website failed to adhere to its chart of ethics, which states that "rumors must be banned, anonymous citations avoided and sources indicated as precisely as possible (...) should be published only news for which the source is known."

Does this justify the fact that France's presidential spouse publishes a letter condemning the press in one of the most referential national titles?

As pointed out by a commenter to the story, "I regret reading this even more than reading the story on the Nouvel Observateur." For him, this only plays into the rise of the cult of celebrity and tabloid content within the quality press.

Feel free to give us your thoughts.

Source: Le Monde (link in French)