If you are a citizen journalist living or traveling in France, you’d better be cautious. On March 3, France’s Constitutional Council passed a new law making it illegal for citizen journalists to record acts of violence. The penalty: up to five years in prison and fines of more than 70,000 euros.
Infoworld notes: “The council chose an unfortunate anniversary to publish its decision approving the law, which came exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday in the night of March 3, 1991.”
The law was first proposed by presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy in an attempt to crackdown on “happy slapping” — the teenage prank where one person slaps a complete stranger and a giggling sidekick films the outraged response, as Bernhard Warner reports at Times Online. The more serious background is that the rising numbers of cell phones that come with built-in video recorders has lead to a surge in bystanders recording crimes and events of note, and then passing those recordings to the media.
This phenomenon is not limited to France. Germany’s biggest daily, the tabloid Bild owned by Axel Springer, provoked heavy criticism last year when it provided “Bild reader reporter identities” to everyone and announced it would pay up to 500 euros per photo — much more than a professional photographer earn. Also, it’s quite common for German newspapers to ask readers for contributions.
Under the new French law, only accredited journalists would be permitted to make recordings in public places — a problematic distinction. The government is proposing that bloggers and mobile phone networks could request “certification” with some restrictions. The Paris-based press freedom agency Reporters Without Borders is concerned that this law could lead to self-censorship online.
Loic Le Meur, one of France’s best-known bloggers, is in a especially delicate position. He works on Sarkozy’s presidential campaign and called the law a “good initiative”, but said “the distinction between professional and amateur journalists is getting harder to make.”
