Below is an excerpt from an article on the aftermath of the French Presidential Election that appeared in The Guardian by columnist Marcel Berlins. It gives an insight to how media laws in any particular country can be exposed as outdated and ridiculous, in a time of global and instant media. It adds to the irony that a charade has to be played out on national networks, feigning ignorance so as to adhere to a rule book drafted eons ago. That should give serious food to thought on how media laws in general need serious change and reform to keep up with the ever evolving modes of communication.
"I think I have discovered a little fraudlet perpetrated on viewers of French television on Sunday evening. Under French electoral law, no indication of the result of the presidential election was allowed to be broadcast until the stroke of 8pm. But the media outside France is not subject to the law. Both in the first round and last Sunday, Belgian television, for instance, broadcast the projected results after the first batch of polling stations closed, at 6pm; Sky News told its viewers of one such poll result. French broadcasters had to wait until the last stations - mainly in the large cities - shut at 8pm. But anyone in France with any access to anyone in Belgium could easily find out what the early exit polls had concluded.
My point is that all those politicians and experts who were animatedly discussing the contrasting futures of France, depending on who turned out the winner, must have known the result, just like the presenters. They were pretending to be as ignorant as their viewers, answering questions such as "Do you think Ségolène Royal has done enough to win over sufficient voters from the centre?" with a deadpan "We shall have to wait and see." They debated at length what Royal would do if she won, knowing that she had lost and would not be in a position to do anything. In other words, for an hour or so before the magic eight o'clock, much of the discussion was a sham.
It does not matter much, but I felt a little disconcerted, watching the apparently tense build-up to the result becoming public, already knowing what it was and knowing that those people chatting away on the screen also knew."
Related Article:
Ségolène Royal faced sexism, sour grapes and petty jealousies - and she never really stood a chance - by Marcel Berlins, The Guardian
"I think I have discovered a little fraudlet perpetrated on viewers of French television on Sunday evening. Under French electoral law, no indication of the result of the presidential election was allowed to be broadcast until the stroke of 8pm. But the media outside France is not subject to the law. Both in the first round and last Sunday, Belgian television, for instance, broadcast the projected results after the first batch of polling stations closed, at 6pm; Sky News told its viewers of one such poll result. French broadcasters had to wait until the last stations - mainly in the large cities - shut at 8pm. But anyone in France with any access to anyone in Belgium could easily find out what the early exit polls had concluded.
My point is that all those politicians and experts who were animatedly discussing the contrasting futures of France, depending on who turned out the winner, must have known the result, just like the presenters. They were pretending to be as ignorant as their viewers, answering questions such as "Do you think Ségolène Royal has done enough to win over sufficient voters from the centre?" with a deadpan "We shall have to wait and see." They debated at length what Royal would do if she won, knowing that she had lost and would not be in a position to do anything. In other words, for an hour or so before the magic eight o'clock, much of the discussion was a sham.
It does not matter much, but I felt a little disconcerted, watching the apparently tense build-up to the result becoming public, already knowing what it was and knowing that those people chatting away on the screen also knew."
Related Article:
Ségolène Royal faced sexism, sour grapes and petty jealousies - and she never really stood a chance - by Marcel Berlins, The Guardian
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