France bans citizen journalists from reporting violence
@ 2:51 pm This article from MacWorld is sending quite a message.
The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence.
The law, proposed by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, is intended to clamp down on a wide range of public order offenses. During parliamentary debate of the law, government representatives said the offense of filming or distributing films of acts of violence targets the practice of “happy slapping,†in which a violent attack is filmed by an accomplice, typically with a camera phone, for the amusement of the attacker’s friends.
So while I quite understand the origin of the ban, then who will be watching those who watch?
Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday… If Holliday were to film a similar scene of violence in France today, he could end up in prison as a result of the new law… And anyone publishing such images could face up to five years in prison and a fine of €75,000 (US$98,537), potentially a harsher sentence than that for committing the violent act.
