How servile is the media in France?

[Meneldil]

Tiens! as we Old Brussels Hands say. Eh bien, je jamais.

Congratz, one fail in the first sentence of the article.

And no, it's not true basically. French media aren't really great, I give you that, but they're not yet servile peons. They have nothing to be ashamed of, seeing how the American and British newspapers happily joined the "Let's invade Irak" crew. Le Nouvel Obs, L'Express, Marianne (three weekly magazines), Le Monde, Libération (daily newspapers), Le Canard Enchainé (weekly newspaper)... there are a bunch of very good media here. Mediapart (the web based newspaper that just revealed the latest big affair), Rue89, Bakchich Info and consorts are also very good and independent news websites.

Saddly, it's also true that many printed newspapers are in the hand of billionaries that happen to be friends with Sarkozy.

Edit:
To make things clear:
- Mediapart (a web-based newspaper ran by the former chief redactor of Le Monde, who also happens to be one of my professors) first revealed the affair.
- Other media soon brought new elements to it. Among those, Le Nouvel Obs (weekly magazine) and Liberation (daily newspaper).
- Most serious media are now clearly attacking the government. Even France2 and France3 (our two public channels) joined in.
- The only news outlets that keep trying to cover up the affair are those owned by Sarkozy's friends (Le Figaro, TF1...)

So, it's kind of wrong to say that all french printed newspapers are obsequious. Even though newspapers have always been weakling in France, even though all of them are partly funded by the state (even Mediapart and co), they still have some will to fight. And the newly born web newspapers are all of very good quality (with Mediapart being far ahead).

Now, the real problem is the french right's behavior, which I assume is both the results of a long french tradition and the outcome of a few years of Sarkozyland. Instead of admiting that one member of the government is a crook, all our leaders are making a wall and keep repeating "It's not true, it's evil leftist propaganda!" or "See, these newspapers are behaving like fascists and nazis" (you can't imagine how much our government loves Godwin).

That being said, the article is full of silly assumptions and clichés about France. But that seems to be the rule when an english or an american write an article about France.