Between Watergate and the Gulag: The French Press and Politics, 1970–1985

This book analyzes the relationship of the French press to political power. The bedrock concept of “innocent until proven guilty” is reversed for French journalists in libel cases; they enter courtrooms presumed guilty. Royal holdovers live on: Louis XIV’S system of indirect control through revocable favors persists in the form of state financial aid to the press.  The weekly Le Canard Enchaîné is a journalistic court jester that plays the same role as the fops at Versailles, telling truth to power in joke form on topics that “serious” journals avoid.

Also introduced: “surplus freedom” a novel approach for gauging self-censorship by comparing the degree of free expression a legal system permits to what publications actually exercise.