The UK moved a faltering step or two closer to France’s stringent privacy laws when the head of Formula One motor racing, Max Mosley, last month won his High Court case that claimed the News of the World had no right to reveal his private sadomasochistic orgy that took place in a London flat.

No French newspaper would have dreamt of running such a story based, as this was, on secret filming by one of the professional dominatrices said to be involved. Under French law, it is illegal to publish someone’s photograph – even members of the public, not just pictures of celebrities – without that person’s specific permission. Turn on any TV channel or open any newspaper, and you will see even quite distant faces electronically scrambled.

What intrigued many in France was not the verdict against British tabloid journalism but the unproven allegation that Mr Justice Eady, already noted for landmark rulings that extended a person’s right to privacy, had somehow manipulated the court listings – reminiscent of the shenanigans in the drama series, Judge John Deed – to preside over the case. The way the legal system is operated across the Channel makes it far more difficult for any judge to pick and choose proceedings.

Mosley is said to be planning to sue several French newspapers because they repeated the essence of the story which they could scarcely have avoided if their readers were to make sense of efforts, so far unsuccessful, to force Mosley’s resignation from the governing body of Formula One. Mosley received only £60,000 in damages in the UK but in France, where a much more stringent law enacting the right to privacy was passed back in 1970, larger awards are common.  

The threat of legal action has been enough to prevent French newspapers running stories about actress Catherine Deneuve’s private life. The open season predicted when President Nicolas Sarkozy began romancing Carla Bruni – so intriguing an event that nothing could keep it quiet – simply has not happened. Only his rival for the presidency, Ségolène Royale, has appeared fair game for the media. The collapse of her relationship with François Hollande, the father of her four children, was widely reported, as have been some of their new friendships. The boldness (judged by French standards) of the newspapers can be traced back to the pictures printed of Ségolène in a bikini on the beach during the summer of 1986, when she failed to sue. According to one story doing the rounds at the time, Ségolène sounded out one public prosecutor to assess her chances. He told her she might win but that he would have to see many more unpublished pictures of her taken on the beach to make absolutely certain.

From our August 2008 e-newsletter